Just Press Reset
by Noel Penn
Summary: Tadashi's been gone for over a month now, but with the rise of a new villain, the Technomancer, Hiro just can't forget the horrible details of his brother's death and move on. He wishes the cuddly care-bot Baymax could really take his pain away, but the chaos caused by the Technomancer proves to be an excellent distraction... or not.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hi, guys! This is my first fanfic, so I hope you enjoy! I did my best to keep everyone in character, but with the addition of my own villain, that might be a little challenging.**

**Let me know what you think!**

**-Noel**

* * *

He knew he shouldn't worry, but somehow the thought of chasing more villains, even after being attacked by a man in a kabuki mask, with the thought in mind of just how many times he'd tried to kill him and the others, still seemed a little ridiculous.

Okay, _a lot_ ridiculous.

Where was the practicality in donning his turquoise armor and plasma-bladed gloves? Wouldn't calling the cops do just fine? Why did there have to be life-risking involved?!

That was the exact question he posed to the others.

"Why does there have to be life-risking, you ask?" Fred echoed, easily manipulating his casual surfer tone into a slightly more mischievous one, as only Fred could do.

"That's exactly what I'm asking!" Wasabi exclaimed, throwing his arms outward for emphasis. "Why do we have to go and risk our lives _again_, after the absolute _insanity_ of taking down Yokai?"

From his desk chair, Hiro threw one of the pieces of Baymax's prototype armor towards the bickering men. A dark expression crossed his young face, and with a seriousness that could only come from losing a loved one, he reminded everyone, "I'm not going to let Tadashi's death have been in vain. We took down Yokai without any major disasters happening, so this guy shouldn't be a problem. Who is this again?" he asked, looking to Gogo.

She scrolled down the page of the newspaper site pulled up on her laptop. "Says here he's called the Technomancer," she answered with a pop of her gum.

"Ooh, the Technomancer?" Honey Lemon echoed, her eyes widening with glee. "He sounds like he could be a San Fransokyo Tech student!"

With glares of equal burning hatred at the thought of another San Fransokyo-related villain turned upon Honey Lemon, the others immediately chorused, "No!"

Even Baymax chimed in, saying, "That would be highly unlikely."

Fred flopped down on the hoverboard Gogo was working on, his arms and legs dangling over the sides. "But, you've gotta admit, it does sound pretty sketchy."

Ignoring Fred's comment, Hiro asked, "What else does it say about the Technomancer? Anything on his gear, weapons, anything?"

Gogo skimmed the article once more, and after a few minutes of reading, replied, "It says he was spotted in the main square, sabotaging the giant telescreens and making the advertisements corrupted and out of whack."

Confused looks crossed the others' faces, except for Fred, who had fallen asleep on the hoverboard.

Gogo, now equally confused, asked, "What?"

"Did you just say 'out of whack'?" Wasabi asked, one eyebrow shooting up into his dreadlocks.

Flustered, Gogo exclaimed, "I was quoting the article!"

Fred suddenly popped his head up, awakened by the commotion, and sleepily said, "Sure you were."

Gogo folded her arms in front of her chest and stared off into the distance like the badass biker chick she was.

Rolling his eyes, Hiro pulled up the same website Gogo had been reading from and skimmed it himself.

Apparently, the Technomancer, as he called himself, possessed wireless hacking gloves and magnetic shoes which he used to scale buildings and corrupt advertisements on the telescreens in the city square. His work was mainly low-threat, and more an annoyance than actual evil, but the last time he corrupted an ad, he'd left an interesting message behind.

_I'm just shaking things up. Use that big brain of yours to think your way out. Look for a new angle._

Hiro froze, eyes locked on the screen, and slowly pushed his chair back from his desk, unable to accept what he'd read. The only other person who'd heard Tadashi say that to him, way back when he was developing the MicroBots, was...

No. There was no way, and as much as the Technomancer's work said otherwise, he had to remember that. Maybe Tadashi had said it once, at the Institute, or maybe, just maybe, someone was a _really_ lucky guesser.

Noticing Hiro's reaction, since it was, you know, only his job and all, Baymax waddled over to Hiro and placed a giant inflated hand on his shoulder. In his robotic, yet highly adorable voice, he chirped, "Things are not always as they appear, Hiro."

He nodded, albeit reluctant to accept the cuddly robot's advice, because even after the sacrifices Baymax had made to protect him, he still had a hard time thinking about Tadashi.

Baymax took note of Hiro's elevated heart rate, but didn't say anything at that moment, with the others around. He decided, as he had learned to analyze human emotions and situations, to wait until the others left and he could speak to Hiro in private.

If Baymax had been able to predict what was going to happen next, he would have gladly made that comment then. But not even Baymax's advanced scanners could predict something that was out of the control of his patient, or their body.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Noel here! Chapter one was a little short, just a taste of what's to come. So, did you like it? I hope you did!**

**Without a due, here's chapter two!**

* * *

Cruising above San Fransokyo, magnetically stuck to Baymax's back armor, Hiro scanned the horizon to search for any signs of the Technomancer. He saw nothing, so he told Baymax, "Scan for any abnormal life signs."

"As you wish," he replied, and the light blue beam of the scanner panned the city. As it crossed over SFIT, Baymax chirruped with an alert. "Patient with abnormal heart rate detected," he said, then blinked to clear the scanner. "Should we investigate?"

"Yeah," Hiro replied, and Baymax began his descent to San Fransokyo Tech.

Diving through a patch of cloud cover, the cool mist calmed Hiro's head, clearing his emotions. Just because someone with an abnormal heart rate was detected didn't mean it had anything to do with the Technomancer. He raised his arms out from his sides, catching the mist of the clouds with his fingers. The serenity eased his worries somewhat, though that niggling feeling that always cluttered the part of his mind where he thought about Tadashi persisted, refusing to dissipate.

On the way down, Baymax contacted Gogo and Honey Lemon, who were on patrol near SFIT. He instructed them to meet at the coordinates he sent, and for Honey to get some of her chemical balls ready.

No one was looking for a fight, but the group had a tendency to get sucked into brawls unwittingly, as Hiro had when he first met Yokai.

Everything they did brought Hiro's thoughts back to Professor Callaghan, and the unspeakable deception and treason he had committed. Though Hiro had finally forgiven Callaghan for the part he had played in Tadashi's death-after much insistence from Baymax and Aunt Cass-he still had a hard time forgiving Callaghan for stealing his MicroBots and causing so much destruction, all in the name of revenge.

But when Hiro thought about that, he was taken back to that day in the warehouse, when he had taken the Health Care Chip out of Baymax.

He wasn't proud of what he had done, but at the time, with his emotions running high and Yokai just within his reach, he had snapped. A fourteen year old boy could only be expected to hold himself together for a limited time before reaching the breaking point, after all.

Again, Baymax noticed Hiro's heart rate increase, but with SFIT just below them, he didn't think it was a good time to bring that up just yet.

From the ground, Honey Lemon waved to them, a fresh set of chem balls stacked neatly in one hand. Gogo waved too, then raced around the building to check the perimeter.

As they landed, Hiro detached himself from Baymax, landing on his feet with ease. He told Baymax to scan the school again, and as he followed Hiro's instructions, Honey Lemon took a moment to talk to him.

Pulling him to the side, she confessed, "Hiro, I saw your reaction to the article on the Technomancer. I know things might seem confusing, but like Baymax said, things aren't always as they appear." Hugging him gently, she added, "Don't ever forget, you don't have to do this alone. We're a team, Hiro."

A small smile pulled at the corners of his lips, and he replied, "I know. Thanks."

"Any time," she said, then looked up and screamed, "Look out!" as she threw down a chem ball, encapsulating them in a protective bubble of goo as a metal desk flew at them, bouncing off the chemicals easily.

"Nice timing," Hiro said flatly, his focus immediately shifting to their attacker.

Stuck to the side of the building, wearing a neon blue supersuit and matching helmet, was a villain one could only guess to be the Technomancer. He detached himself from the side of the building, then jumped down to the roof of one of the labs, tottering as he landed, losing his balance and falling flat on his helmet. A strangled cry escaped the confines of the shiny contraption, and the awkwardness of the villain made Hiro and Honey pause.

Gogo sped to a stop next to them at just that moment, and followed their gaze, watching the supposed Technomancer pull himself to his feet and gather his wits. Gogo pressed the button to retract her visor, and she squinted her eyes at the bright blue villain in disdain.

"You have _got_ to be kidding me," she said, one hand on Hiro's shoulder for balance.

"I know, right?" Honey said in awe, her tone just slightly judgmental. "He's a bit of a klutz, for a villain."

The two girls continued to discuss the quirkiness of he Technomancer while Baymax performed a scan on him. He announced, "The irregular heartbeat I detected from the air does not belong to this human."

Under his breath, Hiro muttered, "Good to know."

The villain that could _probably _be called the Technomancer took three steps towards the heroes, then promptly fell off the building, his boots catching on the metal and saving him from a fifteen-foot fall. Honey gasped, but Gogo and Hiro just watched as he struggled to throw a grappling hook onto the roof, then lowered himself down to the pavement.

He didn't even get to catch his breath before Honey threw a chem ball at him, keeping him stuck in place via an explosion of bluish foam.

The Technomancer exclaimed, "Aah! Eww gross gross gross _this is disgusting get me out of here_ eww gross gross GROSS!" in a very suspiciously girlish tone of voice.

Hiro facepalmed in disgust before heaving a tired sigh. Walking over to the captured Technomancer, with the others flanking him and Baymax dialing the police, he got as close to the Technomancer as the chem foam would allow him, standing on tiptoes to grab the helmet and unmask the klutzy villain.

When he pulled the helmet off, it was to shrill protest, the Technomancer saying, "Don't you dare touch my helmet nonono let go get off go away stop STOP _sto-opp!_"

Hiro ignored the girlish cries and pulled it off with notable difficulty, as he discovered a mop of crazy, curly, firetruck red hair was keeping the slightly oversized helmet in place around the delicate feminine features of the not-male Technomancer.

"It's a girl?!" the girls exclaimed, and Hiro disappointedly sighed.

Baymax took note of how many times Hiro sighed, and planned to discuss it with him later, along with his elevated heart rate. He suspected emotional distress, possibly related to the onset of puberty, but then again it could be about the whole ordeal involving Yokai and the death of his brother. Baymax couldn't be sure, because his system was too busy rescanning the area, as he picked up on the irregular heartbeat from earlier.

While Baymax's scanners did their thing, Hiro and Gogo interrogated the female Technomancer. Their first question was admittedly quite redundant.

"Are you the Technomancer?"

"If I say yes, do I get arrested?" the girl asked, and Honey nodded solemnly. Puckering her lips, then frowning deeply, she said, "That would be unfortunate. I guess it's a good thing I'm the distraction."

That made everyone freeze, looking to the not-Technomancer in confusion. With one dark eyebrow raised, Gogo asked, "What do you mean, you're the distraction?"

"It's quite simple, you know," she replied. "I'm not the real Technomancer. The real Technomancer asked me to put on this suit and stand on top of that building, neither of which is illegal."

"She has a point," Honey Lemon admitted, only to get poked in the side by Gogo.

The imitation villain added, "I got paid fifty bucks to stand on top of a building in an air-conditioned suit. Of course I'm going to do it!"

The looks on the heroes' faces could only be described as _You did not accept fifty dollars from a supervillain to stand on top of San Fransokyo Tech._

As if on cue, she insisted, "I did! The money is in my pocket right now!"

Honey looked at the giant glob of chem foam covering the pocket of the supersuit and said, "Yeaaah, you're not getting out of there anytime soon. Sorry!"

The imitation villain shrugged her shoulders and said, "I don't really care, so long as I'm home before dinner."

Suspicious, Honey asked, "When do you eat dinner?"

"Five o'clock," the imitation villain said.

Honey looked at her watch; the time read twelve-thirty.

It was going to be a long day.

The day would be even longer than Honey anticipated, due to the simple fact that while the girls were talking with the imitation villain, the patient with the irregular heartbeat Baymax had detected suddenly appeared next to Hiro, grabbed the boy, suit and all, and promptly disappeared with him before Baymax could say "hairy baby."

Of course, Baymax immediately noticed that Hiro had been kidnapped, but it took him a few moments to break Honey's focus from the imitation villain to alert her and Gogo, who had sped around the building once more to look for the person with the irregular heartbeat, who had incidentally kidnapped his creator's kid brother.

When Baymax finally got Honey's attention, she shrieked, "Hiro! We need to rescue him!"

Smugly, Gogo reminded her, "He wouldn't need rescuing if you had been paying better attention."

That struck Honey's nerve. Uncharacteristically angry, she shouted, "Well, what about you? Why weren't you watching him?"

Just as smugly, Gogo tossed a San Fransokyo Tech bag to Honey, who caught it with ease. Gogo said, "I was looking for clues as to who the real Technomancer could be, and I found this."

Honey looked inside the bag, then sighed heavily, her lanky frame sinking to the pavement.

"None of us wants a repeat of this," she lamented, "especially not Hiro."

"We cannot control who the villain is," Baymax suddenly chimed in, "but we can still take him down. Together."

Perking up considerably at Baymax's well-timed encouragement, Honey asked, "Baymax, can you get a read on Hiro's vital signs? Did he really just disappear a second ago?"

Baymax's Care Chip kicked into gear, and he shot up into the air like a marshmallowy rocket to perform a city-wide scan.

The soft blue light of his scan panned the city, and he performed a complete sweep without anything pinging. Calculating alternative ways to track Hiro, he recalled that Hiro had installed a GPS chip on a private network into each suit, as well as Baymax. Only those with the network code could find them.

It was a good thing Baymax had the network codes uploaded into his system.

With a blink, he logged on and sorted through the pings on his radar, ignoring Honey and Gogo in the immediate vicinity, and then Wasabi and Fred on the other side of town. He refreshed the GPS and caught a small blip on his radar, on an island in San Fransokyo Bay. If Baymax could've given a sigh of relief, he would have, because the island Hiro was on was not the same island where the gang fought Yokai.

Of course, that particular island just happened to be owned by the richest man in San Fransokyo, Mitsunari Fuji.

The King of Computers, as he called himself, he was known to most as Mr. Fuji, founder of FujiCorps, the largest computer manufacturing industry on this side of the continent. Fuji was rumored to be so rich, if he spent a dollar every minute of every day, his money wouldn't run out for one hundred years.

The man was loaded, to put it short.

To get an audience with Mr. Fuji would be impossible, as he was a well-known recluse. The gang would just have to go there and get Hiro back themselves. All they would have to do was find a boat, go out into sharky waters, infiltrate a multi-million dollar high-security private island, possibly get arrested...

As a robot, it wasn't in Baymax's programming to be able to feel fear, though he did notice a slight fluctuation in his monitoring systems.

He would have to self-diagnose later.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I plan on updating around two times a week, but if I end up only getting one chapter out per week, don't fret! I'm a busy student, so I'll do my best to keep things regular. I'll put an author's note in if I think I might have to go on a short hiatus, but hopefully I'll be able to avoid that.**

**-Noel**

* * *

The man that kidnapped Hiro wasn't really a man. No, not a man so much as a robotic version of a man. And, regrettably, that robotic man just happened to bear an eerie resemblance to himself. It was funny, actually, that he felt the robot looked like him somehow, as the robot actually looked nothing like him.

But enough about the robot; it grabbed him and teleported him-which was nearly PTSD-inducing considering his last hello with teleportation-to a very regal and rich hallway.

Hiro immediately took stock of his surroundings, and discovered that he was in the island-based mansion of a certain fellow we have already become acquainted with.

Yes, Mr. Fuji.

He familiarized himself with the view from the large picture window at the end of the hall, as the view could possibly aid in his escape. The question remained as to the reason for which he had been kidnapped in the first place.

He didn't have time to contemplate these matters, as the robot immediately jabbed his neck with two creepy robotic fingers _riiiight _in the pressure point that put him to sleep.

Slumping against the robot, Hiro was then scooped up and carried down the regal hallway to a not-so-regal-looking staircase, then carried to a slightly-less-regal-looking hallway, and finally, deposited in a lavish bedroom bigger than yours.

You have a big bedroom, you say? Well, this one was still bigger. Like, three-bedrooms-combined bigger. Top that!

Anyways, the robot laid him gently in bed, which was also bigger than y-I refuse to argue this with you. Shut up and read the story!

The robot laid him gently in bed, but didn't go so far as to tuck him in or anything, because that would be weird. He did, however, take off Hiro's armor and rest it gently on the bench next to the bed, just within reach should Hiro suddenly wake up and panic in wonder as to where his armor was.

This was quite smart of the robot, as not long after he left the room, Hiro did just that.

He was aroused from a confusing dream in which his brother came to him. He wasn't very supportive, though, when Dream Hiro relayed the short tale of his capture to Dream Tadashi.

"How did you get kidnapped?" Dream Tadashi asked, and Dream Hiro explained how Honey had been interrogating the not-Technomancer, and how the creepy robot who resembled him without actually looking anything like him suddenly snatched him up and teleported him to Fujisan's island, and Tadashi do you have any idea how much I hate teleportation ever since what happened after you died?!

Whoops, that was supposed to be in quotation marks. Well, you get the idea.

Dream Tadashi crossed his ghost-arms and asked, "How am I supposed to know this? For one thing, I'm just a dream, and for another thing, I'm dead!"

To himself, Hiro muttered, "I don't remember you being this much of a jerk when you were alive."

"That's because I'm not being a jerk. I'm being realistic," Dream Tadashi replied. "I'm also being a metaphysical representation of your subconscious."

Confused, Hiro said, "O-kay, then let's move on. What do I do now?"

"I don't know," Dream Tadashi answered. "Did you miss the part where I said I'm a metaphysical representation of your subconscious? I don't know any more than you do."

That was when Hiro jerked awake.

* * *

Wasabi didn't even try to argue the point when Gogo told everyone they were going to infiltrate the mansion of Mr. Fuji. He just didn't see the point in fighting it, as scared as he was. He knew they couldn't just leave Hiro or try going to the police.

No. They were going to have to take the law into their own hands... which was exactly the opposite of what he'd said about chasing Yokai.

Funny how that worked out.

While the girls and Fred were planning out the rescue mission, Wasabi checked his plasma blades and performed some light maintenance to ensure optimal performance. Baymax approached him quietly, cuddly as ever now that he'd shed his armor.

"'Sup, Big Dude?" he asked when he saw Baymax approach.

Baymax hesitated, blinked his cute little robot eyes at the floor, then admitted, "I believe my sensors are malfunctioning, but my self-diagnostic detected nothing."

Wasabi stopped what he was doing, as any malfunctioning software in Baymax's arsenal could prove a serious issue, and only Hiro knew how to fix him. He asked, "What do you mean, you're malfunctioning?"

Baymax raised a hand to rub his head, a habit he had picked up from watching humans on television. "When Hiro was kidnapped," he said, "I felt a... pause."

"A what?" Wasabi replied, confused.

"A pause," Baymax said. "As if my internal computer froze for a second."

A knowing smile crossed the burly man's face, and he gently explained, "You're worried about Hiro. You felt a tinge of worry."

Confused, Baymax replied, "But robots cannot feel."

"You've always been more than a robot, Baymax," Wasabi sighed, "so I wouldn't be surprised."

Wasabi left Baymax where he was and went to go check on the girls. Once he was alone, Baymax tried to consider what Wasabi had said, but it just wouldn't compute.

"More than a robot... How can I be more than I am?"

* * *

**A/N: I combined two sections into one chapter so it wouldn't be so short.  
**

**Things are heating up...!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Thank you to everyone who's read _Just Press Reset_ so far! It means a lot to me that you all take the time to read it. **

**I sincerely hope you enjoy!**

**-Noel**

* * *

Hiro was really staring to dislike the robot that looked eerily familiar to him. First, it had kidnapped him, and then it had teleported him-a heinous crime in itself-and then, of all things, it had knocked him out cold and made him suffer the confusion of a metaphysical subconscious representation that couldn't even help him!

He regretted getting out of bed that morning.

He especially disliked it for the fact that it reappeared shortly after he awoke and whisked him off, blindfolded, to a dimly lit room-wait, no, it only appeared dim because he was blindfolded. It was actually brightly lit by the same kind of enormous picture windows as there were in the hallways they had traveled through-no teleportation this time.

When he arrived in the bright room, a nasal voice commanded, "Take that off him! That was rude, Rohan."

The robot, whose name was apparently Rohan, did as he was told, gently pulling at the knot that held the blindfold in place. The dark navy fabric fell from Hiro's eyes, resting lightly atop the tips of his sneakers as Hiro squinted against the brightness.

"Sorry," the nasal voice said, as the room darkened thanks to automatic window blinds. "I forgot it gets really bright in here."

Hiro opened his eyes to a small, dark-haired girl sitting in an oversized desk chair, her feet propped up against the enormous mahogany desk in the center of the room. She was wearing what appeared to be a San Fransokyo Prep uniform, and her long hair was styled into a hime cut, making her eyes look small within her face. She was obviously Asian in heritage, and from the way she carried herself, it wasn't difficult to guess she was Fujisan's daughter.

Not that Hiro knew Fujisan had a daughter, but he could speculate away.

The girl stood, her body fluid and graceful, and Hiro felt his heart skip a beat when the sun framed her hair just right. She tossed her dark locks over one shoulder and said, "So, I know you probably-oh, wait, I forgot."

The girl coughed once, and when she spoke again, it was in a much warmer, kinder tone.

"I know you probably think you just got kidnapped, but that's not what I was trying to do at all," she said. "It's just really difficult to get a private audience with San Fransokyo's youngest and brightest mind since... well, since the other Hamada."

Hiro's anger flared for an instant at the way she referred to his brother, but some part of him argued she probably did it so as not to upset him.

She continued, "My name is Mimi Fuji, and I'm Fujisan's niece. I usually go to San Fransokyo Prep, but ever since I heard about your work with the MicroBots, I've been wanting to transfer to SFIT."

Hiro scrunched his face up, trying not to speak rudely to this... confusing girl. Taking a deep breath, he replied, "In order to get into SFIT, you have to know about technology. Having your own invention or idea works, too."

Mimi smiled kindly, and merely said, "Rohan, Mimicry Subject 2, please."

Hiro turned to watch the robot who had previously looked eerily similar to him start to disassemble parts of itself, then reassemble into a tall figure he struggled to recognize.

"I haven't perfected his technology so he can change color, but his shape can be modified at will," Mimi said, walking over to stand beside Hiro. He tried to focus on the robot and not the way her hips slightly swayed when she walked.

Mimi added, "Try to imagine him with black hair and dark eyes, wearing a cardigan."

Hiro cocked his head to one side and stared at the robot for a few seconds before his legs nearly gave out on him.

That thing... that robot... was mimicking the appearance of...

Mimi noticed his reaction, and barked, "Mimicry Subject 1!"

The robot immediately returned to its original appearance, but once Hiro had seen it, he couldn't un-see it.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I should have picked a more appropriate subject. I'm so sorry, Hiro."

His heart throbbed wildly in his chest, and his breathing spiked as he tried to calm down. Tadashi had been gone for months now, but the wound was still fresh in his heart. He put one hand over his eyes and concentrated on slowing down his heart rate. Several deep breaths later, he said to Mimi, "No, it... don't. I don't understand why you brought me here, but I just... I just want to go home."

"But I didn't get to ask you-"

"I just want to go home!" Hiro shouted, interrupting Mimi, his palms pressed to his eyes. "Please," he added more calmly.

Mimi frowned, mad at herself for ruining what she thought would be her only chance at getting _the _Hiro Hamada to help her with her robotics designs.

She reached towards him, but he backed away, so she just said, "Follow me," and then walked out.

Hesitant, but not wanting to stay there any longer hand he had to, he followed her down a million halls to a small locked hatch in one wall. She explained that it was an escape pod that would take him back to the mainland.

Opening the hatch for him, he placed a hand on the railing and got one leg in the pod before turning to look at Mimi, who had turned her gaze to the maroon floor.

Hiro let out a sigh and said, "Listen, Mimi..."

Just then, they were interrupted by a deafening explosion, prompting Hiro's instincts to make him tackle Mimi to the ground, covering her body with his to protect her. She let out a shrill scream, and when the little bits of plaster, paint, and expensive wall sconces cleared from the air, Hiro pushed himself to his knees and asked her if she was okay.

Brushing the fine powder from her face and clothes, she coughed, "Just shaken up."

To his own surprise, he smiled, and turned to see what the source of the explosion was.

A group of crazily-dressed adults and one bright robot poured through the hole in Fujisan's wall, shouting, "Hiro! We've come to save you!"

Hiro froze, let out a frustrated groan, and let himself fall back onto the dusty carpet, sending up a cloud of white and making both him and Mimi have coughing fits. When his lungs had cleared, he looked to the others and asked, "Guys, what are you doing here?"

"Did you miss the part where we said we came to save you?" Fred asked, his words slightly muffled from the suit.

Honey chimed in, "We were so worried about you, Hiro. You were kidnapped from right underneath our noses!"

Wasabi looked distraught about something, and Baymax was busy scanning the area for the patient he had detected earlier. Gogo glided past the debris and right up to Hiro, enveloping him in a loving hug.

From the background, Mimi coughed lightly and said, "Hi."

At her word, Gogo raised her head and spotted her, and immediately connected the prissy little Asian wimp to the robot who had kidnapped her best friend's little brother. Launching herself at Mimi, she was quickly plucked out of the air by cool-headed Wasabi, who set her down and held her shoulders so she could calm down.

"Hey!" Wasabi chastised her, "It's rude to attack people for no reason!"

Wriggling within his grasp, she fought him, saying, "It's not for no reason; that girl kidnapped Hiro!"

Hiro interrupted by saying, "I wasn't... she wasn't trying to kidnap me," but his protest fell on deaf ears.

Gogo launched into a full-on argument with Wasabi, the usually-docile man becoming impassioned, his dreads nearly standing on end. Gogo bristled and tried to extract as much height as possible from her small frame, rocking back and forth on her skates, looking more childish than threatening.

While Wasabi made an effort to keep Gogo from killing Mimi, Baymax lurched forward towards the young girl, who had receded into the background, hiding behind Hiro. She watched in fascination as he approached in his bright red armor, and when he looked intently at her, she stared up into his eyes.

He scanned her a third time, just to be sure, then announced, "I have located the patient from earlier. That is to say, presumably the true Technomancer."

That made everyone, including Gogo and Wasabi, drop everything and stare as Baymax pointed at Mimi. Her eyes doubled in size, and confusedly she exclaimed, "What?!"

Baymax repeated, "I have located the patient from earlier." He turned to Mimi and said, "Your heartbeat is quite abnormal. I have performed a body scan. My diagnosis is puberty."

"Not this one again!" Hiro groaned, that awkward first memory of Baymax coming back to him.

But Baymax wasn't done. He added, "Her irregular heartbeat is being caused by someone in this room."

Wordlessly the adults stared at Hiro. In defense, he asked, "What?"

They looked at Mimi, who was turning red as Baymax's armor.

This wasn't going to end well; Hiro could tell.

Baymax stopped for a moment and wondered if he shouldn't have said that out loud so the others could hear.

Mimi wondered if it was possible to actually die of embarrassment.

Fred wondered if they would be getting pizza after this.

* * *

**A/N: Oh, Fred.  
**

**And oh, Baymax.**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Thank you so much to everyone who has favorited and followed _Just Press Reset_! I appreciate your support so much. And thank you to everyone who's taken the time to read it as well. It means so much to me, especially since this is my first fanfiction. **

**I wasn't able to update yesterday because I got really busy, but I'm going to put out another chapter tomorrow on top of this one, since this one is so short.**

**Thank you all again for your support!**

**-Noel**

* * *

It wouldn't be inaccurate to say that, after Baymax let the cat out of the bag about Mimi, and after Mimi let her cat out of the house, things got...

Tense.

With our heroes seated at one of the Fuji conference tables-so named because they were designed by Fujisan himself and featured a small replica of Mount Fuji in the center-and Mimi sitting in the director's chair, the group stared daggers at each other, not making a sound.

Of course, it was pretty difficult for Baymax to stare daggers at anyone, and not because his eyes were made of hyperspectral cameras. He was just too cute, even in his bright red armor.

Wasabi and Gogo, however, had no qualms about staring angrily at each other-with Gogo taking the occasional biting glance at Mimi.

Honey Lemon kept her eyes on Hiro, who stared at Mimi. She stared right back.

Fred decided to just sit quietly and watch the lights dance across the shiny table top.

After a painfully long silence, Hiro took a deep breath just as Gogo launched into a tirade.

"_Who _do you think you _are_, kidnapping Hiro like that?! With everything going on about the Technomancer, and the message left on the building, and the _teleportation_, which shouldn't even _exist_, and don't even get me _started _on the fact that that's what got Tadashi _killed _and the original Baymax _lost _and Hiro almost _dead_, for crying out loud-!"

She stopped just as suddenly as she had begun, and from where he sat across from her, Wasabi could just barely see a tear roll down her face beneath her helmet.

Mimi, ashamed of the way things were turning out, sunk down into her chair, regretting not having perfected the cloaking device just yet. Hiro, who sat between her and Gogo, took another deep breath, then spoke.

"Look, what's done is done. Mimi had... she had nothing to do with what that monster did to my brother. Yes, she kind of kidnapped me-"

"Kind of?" Gogo asked, crossing her arms and leaning back into her chair.

"She didn't mean for it to look like a kidnapping," Hiro explained.

This only exasperated Gogo even more. She threw her arms out to her sides and demanded, "Why are you defending her actions?!"

"Because," Hiro replied, "of what she showed me just a little while ago."

This brought looks of bewilderment to his friends' faces. What could be so important that she had to kidnap Hiro to show it to him?

"She made a robot capable of transforming into Tadashi," he said simply.

Stunned silence from everyone older than fourteen-with the exception of Fred, who suddenly shouted, "Drift away, little dust bit guy!" while staring excitedly at the table.

It was a very Fred thing to do.

The others, except for Mimi, ignored him, and Honey gently asked, "What do you mean?"

Mimi cleared her throat and explained further.

"It's a mimicking robot I invented, capable of transforming its outer appearance to match any pre-programmed form. My test samples were scans of the Hamada brothers, and when Hiro was taken by Rohan, he was mimicking Hiro's appearance. I already showed him the mimicry of his brother." Her face was veiled in somber shame as she added, "I made an error in judgment in showing him that particular programmed subject."

Wasabi's sharp judgment returned when she mentioned the scans of the brothers, and he asked suspiciously, "How did you get scans of Hiro and Tadashi?"

"Do you know how many cameras you get captured on a day, just walking the streets of San Fransokyo?"

Fred responded, "I dunno, like, ten?"

"The average is three hundred," Mimi told him. "It wasn't hard to get all the images I needed. The difficult part was programming him."

"And his name is Rohan...?" Honey asked.

Mimi's face darkened considerably before she answered.

"That was my older brother's name."

All Hiro could think was, _Ouch_.

That's all the others could think, too.

Mimi rubbed at her nose, then sniffled hard, looking at Hiro from beneath her eyelashes. "I didn't get to know my brother. He died when he was little, and I wasn't even born yet."

_Ouch_, Hiro thought again. It was bad enough to lose a sibling, but to never even get to know them...

"But that's all water under the bridge," Mimi said, standing. "I apologize again for the misunderstanding, everyone. I won't bother you again."

Hiro nodded, stood, and started to walk out.

Indignantly Gogo stood, and Honey Lemon did the same. Fred was still staring at the table top, so Wasabi grabbed his arm and pulled him to his feet. "Oh," Fred said, startled, "I guess we're leaving now... Bye, Technomancer!" he called, waving one enormous monster-hand.

No one heard what he said; they were too buried in their own thoughts. But Mimi, still sitting at the table, looked down at her lap and began to cry.

* * *

**A/N: Fred, you said _what now?!_  
**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Thank you to Chelsea, Purpalz Miner, and Anna granger27 for leaving reviews!**

**Anna granger27 pointed out my near-egregious error in typing MiniBots instead of MicroBots... I don't know what I was thinking when I typed that, but I went back through the previous chapters and got it fixed. Thanks again, Anna granger27!**

**-Noel**

* * *

They flew back to Aunt Cass's after getting Hiro's armor from the bedroom he'd rested in. On the way, no one said a word, and Hiro clung to Baymax's back like a wet noodle thrown on the wall.

He was just kinda there.

Cass greeted them with all the warmness of their own mothers, and immediately herded them upstairs for some of her famous hot wings, Hiro's favorite. But as he stood in the bathroom, his armor put back where it belonged and the water passing cooly over his hands, he didn't feel very hungry.

He told Aunt Cass he wanted to just take some leftovers up to his room and be by himself, but the others overheard and wouldn't have any of it.

"No way I'm letting you eat up there, all by yourself," Gogo said, grabbing her plate and a wad of napkins and heading for the stairs. Honey carried the drinks while Wasabi took hers and Fred's plate for them, not trusting Fred to avoid spilling hot sauce all over the place.

Reluctantly Hiro took the meatloaf and mashed potatoes Cass handed him and followed them up.

The boys sat on the floor, letting the girls take the chairs at Tadashi's and Hiro's desks.

Fred sat completely enthralled by his wings, but the others had no problems with paying attention to the conversation. As they talked, Hiro picked at his meatloaf and thought about his stay at the Fuji family island.

Nothing about what had happened added up. For one thing, he hadn't known anything about Fujisan having a niece. And the fact that her brother died just like Tadashi had...

Well, not necessarily. He didn't know the circumstances of Mimi's brother's death, so he couldn't judge how odd it was.

The strange part was the way he had been treated, and why she picked him and Tadashi to be her little test subjects. That was the strangest part about it all; why them?

Everyone pitched ideas back and forth at each other, to no avail. Not even the combined genius of Gogo, Honey Lemon, Wasabi, and Hiro could bring sense to it all.

Leave it to Fred to be the one to clear the air.

Between hot wings, he nonchalantly commented, "Boy, for a supervillain, that Technomancer chick was pretty cute. Too bad she's a villain or she'd make a nice girlfriend, Hiro."

Hiro dropped his fork, Honey's mouth fell open, Gogo did a spittake and Wasabi nearly swallowed a chicken bone.

They all screamed, "_What_?!"

Fred smiled at their reactions, but when he realized they weren't kidding, he exclaimed, "You guys didn't know?!"

"No!" they all shouted. "How did you?!"

Sheepishly he admitted, "Well, it wasn't easy. But considering the Technomancer wears a powder blue suit, and is really good with technology, that weird little girl that kidnapped Hiro really was the only suspect that fit the bill."

The others could only stare in awe.

No one really wanted to say what they were all thinking, but, come on, this was _Fred _they were having their minds blown by. In a logical world, it didn't make sense.

But, Hiro thought, the world stopped being logical the second Tadashi died.

Wasabi, who managed to not choke and die on the chicken bone, looked at Fred as if he had grown a second head. "Dude, how did you figure that out?"

"Good old-fashioned sleuthing!" Fred happily exclaimed as Baymax waddled into the room.

Hiro raised his head to the cuddly companion he had rebuilt not too long ago. Baymax squeezed past the girls and Wasabi, taking a seat on the floor next to the young boy. His eyes blinked a few times before he spoke.

"That was not a girl you spoke with," he said simply.

Now, even Fred was confused.

"Baymax, of course that was a girl. You detected her heartbeat, she flushed at the mention of me... How was she not a girl?" Hiro asked, concerned for Baymax's systems possibly malfunctioning rising within him.

Baymax replied,"I analyzed her heartbeat once we returned from the island. Her heartbeat is not a human heartbeat; it is computer-generated."

Hiro's eyes dilated in fear. He fought to control it as he whispered, "There's no way. It's impossible."

But Baymax said it anyways.

"That girl is a robot."

* * *

From the shadows, a figure watched Mimi as she cried, and silently shook their head. She would need some maintenance if those leakages were to be fixed.

Mimi recognized the figure's presence, but stayed where she was, and cursed her programming. She didn't want to lie to a sweet boy like Hiro, who had suffered so much at such a young age. She had pity for Hiro.

She had no pity for the figure that crossed the floor and pressed the button hidden at the base of her neck, putting her consciousness to sleep.

The figure commanded, "Go back to your charging station and await further orders, M1-07."

Mechanically she stood and walked out.

The figure crossed the room again, to the windows on the far wall. Drawing the blinds closed, the figure looked out across the water to the mainland, their gaze landing on quiet San Fransokyo.

There was mayhem to be caused, and time was running out.

* * *

**A/N: Hiro isn't known for being particularly noodly, but this was a fitting time for some slightly-out-of-character actions.  
**

***dramatic music plays in the background as an announcer speaks* Who is this mysterious figure? How is Mimi a robot? When did Fred become this smart? Why does Wasabi like hot wings so much? All this and more will be explained soon enough, dear readers! Just you wait!**

**This is the end of the first part of the fic, by the way. You can anticipate more character development, more plot, and further hilarity (and longer chapters) starting from here.**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: I'm so sorry, guys! The weather where I am has been really crazy and extremely cold the past few days, so we had school delays that just totally screwed up my posting schedule. I've been writing, though, so I'm going to post 3 chapters in a row to make up for my lack of updates. **

**Sorry, guys! I'll get on a regular schedule next week.**

**-Noel**

* * *

Baymax finally decided to bring up Hiro's odd behavior with him, once the others left for the night. He settled down on the floor as Hiro flopped onto his bed, patiently waiting for his creator's younger brother to settle down.

Hiro laced his fingers together behind his head and stared up at the ceiling, sighing in discontent. The latest development concerning the Technomancer and Mimi made his head spin in confusion and wonder.

Baymax watched the boy as he suddenly shot up in bed, shouting, "Rohan was the one that kidnapped me, but Mimi has an artificial heartbeat!"

"Correct," chirped Baymax.

Hiro pointed out, "But you said the irregular heartbeat belonged to Mimi. She wasn't there when Rohan kidnapped me."

"Incorrect," Baymax chirped.

Flatly he asked, "What?"

Baymax replied, "The irregular heartbeat I detected was in fact present when Rohan appeared."

The pieces seemed to fall into place before his eyes.

Either Mimi was there, and she could teleport too, or she reached the island after Hiro was knocked out.

It made sense; he was probably knocked out to give her time to arrive. She most likely didn't possess the technology necessary to support teleportation like Rohan so obviously did. _Her systems must be solely calibrated on the imitation of the human body_, Hiro thought.

Baymax seemed to read his thoughts, as he added, "That Mimi girl very strongly resembles a human. My sensors were barely able to detect the difference, but some interference caused by Fred's shouting alerted me to her true identity."

Hiro couldn't help but want to hug and punch that mindless mascot at the same time.

Well, that explained some of what had happened, but there was a lot left unanswered. Baymax went ahead and notified the others of what he and Hiro had uncovered so as to keep them in-the-loop. He then proceeded to address his concerns for Hiro's health.

"I detected an irregularity in your mood patterns," he began, "and your heart rate seemed to shift considerably upon discovery of the decoy."

Hiro knew what Baymax was getting at, but he refused to talk about it at the moment. He brushed it off by saying, "I was just surprised there was a girl underneath that helmet. And never mind the fact that Honey and I nearly got killed by a desk."

"But what about your sighing?" Baymax asked. "That is highly abnormal for you, Hiro. I am concerned."

That piqued Hiro's attention. "What do you mean, you're concerned?" he asked, one eyebrow raised.

The little bit of human personality Baymax had developed wasn't sophisticated enough to feel nervousness or fear, but he found it wise to avoid explaining it as Wasabi had. Instead he said, "Upon analysis of your normal behavioral patterns, the increased number of sighs, which I understand signals discontent and emotional upset, triggered a red flag within my system."

Leave it to a marshmallowy robot to lie through his speakers to a traumatized fourteen-year-old.

Hiro wasn't totally convinced, and Baymax could tell. He rolled over onto his side, looking to the window as a light rain began to fall. The melancholy feeling outside seemed to worm its way in to his bedroom, and he sighed again in discontent.

It had been a crappy day, and he didn't expect it to get any better.

He found himself thinking of Tadashi once again, just as he had for many nights lately. Even then, months after his death, that moment haunted Hiro's dreams.

He cursed himself for not forcing Tadashi to wait for a firefighter or someone else to run in to save Callaghan. He wished he'd done something other than just stand and watch as Tadashi gave his life to try and save a monster. Callaghan was a disgusting creep who deserved to rot in jail for what he had done to the many lives he irrevocably altered and nearly destroyed.

The hatred for the man his brother had looked up to bubbled within him, but without fail he then recalled those words that had tainted his friends' view of him, putting him on the same level as Callaghan.

_Destroy him,_ he had commanded Baymax after removing the Health Care Chip.

Those words echoed within his mind, and he blinked away tears of shame for what he had done. He wished he could take that moment back and forget he had ever said it.

But he couldn't change the past, and no amount of wishing would ever make a difference.

He felt a presence behind him, and he turned to see Baymax touch a hand to his shoulder.

"It is okay, Hiro. We all make mistakes."

Most people would call it impossible for an artificial being, even a sentient one like Baymax, to have feelings or even be capable of emoting. But despite his nearly featureless face, as Baymax looked down at Hiro, blinking slowly and reassuringly, Hiro was overcome with an inexplicable sense that this beautiful creature his brother had invented harbored for him a feeling of pure love. Hiro couldn't explain it any other way; he just _knew _Baymax loved him, despite that one shameful thing he had done that ate at his conscience.

Joyful tears welled in his eyes. It was uplifting to know that Baymax really cared about him, and even loved him.

And he loved Baymax, too.

* * *

Wasabi, collapsing onto his couch, suddenly recalled his conversation with Baymax about his concern for Hiro. He knew that from what he had said, it appeared as if he believed Baymax really was capable of having feelings. But everything he had been taught about robotics said it was impossible.

He pulled out his phone and did a quick search for artificial intelligence developing human personality traits. What he found confused him further.

The only thing that would explain Baymax's behavior was a theory called the "ghost in the machine." It said something along the lines that the errant code in some artificial intelligence systems could collect and re-form into a program of their own, forming a sort of unique "soul" from which full human-like awareness could be achieved.

But it was too scientifically fictitious for him.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Okay, so when I said the chapters would be getting longer, I probably should have been more specific. They should be longer after nine... I haven't gotten to format them properly, but they should be longer.**

* * *

The next day was Sunday, and Hiro spent the morning helping Aunt Cass down in the diner. Baymax walked around and greeted some of the guests, entertaining a small baby or two with his intonation and cuddly appearance.

The little girl who commanded his attention from the lap of her father giggled elatedly at the attention from Baymax. Her father smiled at the robot and told him, "They have a Baymax at my daughter's day care, too."

Hiro overheard him as he passed by, and told the man, "This is the second Baymax, the one I rebuilt after my brother's original one was lost in the teleportation incident."

The man grinned and said, "You're the Hamada boy, then. Nice to meet you. My name is Flynn, and this is my daughter Kelly."

Hiro shook the man's hand, smiling brightly at the little girl, her light brown hair tied up in pigtails. He nodded to Baymax and said, "I'm glad I was able to get a few others built and distributed throughout San Fransokyo. They're helping a lot of people, which is exactly what Tadashi dreamed of."

Flynn nodded. "I'm so sorry for what happened, Hiro. Your brother was loved by so many people. But in time, he will be remembered by all.

"Baymax is going to change the world," Flynn added, and Hiro's eyes became clouded with unshed tears at those words.

Tadashi himself had said something not too different at his first successful test of Baymax.

Hiro wiped at his eyes with one sleeve, saying, "Thanks."

Flynn smiled and continued to bounce baby Kelly on his lap as she waved goodbye to Baymax.

Cass called them over, noticing the exchange between Hiro and the man. She pulled Hiro in for a hug, then told him, "Why don't you and Baymax go hang out with the others? Just so long as you don't get kidnapped again, mister!" she teased.

"If you're sure," Hiro replied, not wanting to leave his aunt by herself.

"Get outta here and go be a kid," she told him. "I've got Kenji here. We'll be fine."

At the mention of his name, the new short-order cook they'd hired with the commercial-Baymax profits looked out from the kitchen and waved to Hiro. He called, "We can handle things here. Go have fun, Hiro!"

Smiling and waving back, his spirits lifted, he gave his aunt a quick kiss before heading out, Baymax not far behind. Cass watched, awestruck as he almost launched himself out of the cafe and nearly collided with a pedestrian on his way to Fred's, the gang's usual meeting location.

Even Kenji noticed the spring in his step. To Cass he commented, "Something good's gotta be on his mind."

She nodded, her hands on her hips. From the way he'd been acting for weeks, it had to be something other than simply hanging out with his friends. It had to be something big.

Whatever it was, she was glad he was happy.

* * *

Baymax offered to contact the others on the way, but Hiro decided to do it himself. He sent a text out and got an immediate reply from Wasabi.

_Cleaning day. Sorry, bro! -Wasabi_

A few minutes later, Honey replied, too.

_Busy at the lab. Sorry, Hiro! Kisses, Honey _

There was no answer from Fred, so Hiro figured he was probably off sleeping somewhere. Classic Fred.

Gogo texted back shortly after Honey.

_On the way. Be there in five. -Gogo_

His inner boy lamented at his only companionship besides Baymax being a girl, but at the same time, he held great respect for Gogo. She was closest to Tadashi, and her badass biker chick attitude was just too likeable, no matter how too-cool-for-school she tried to be.

If he had to spend time alone-well, not alone with Baymax there-with anyone, he was glad it was Gogo.

They arrived just after she did, and watched her take her bike helmet off and shake her hair out, the purple streaks catching the light.

Hiro was about to call out to her in greeting when she spoke.

"Tadashi," she sighed, "I've gotta say, Hiro's really pulled himself together. He hasn't been caught bot fighting once, and we're all so proud of him for working to make your dreams come true.

"I still miss you," she added, her throat tightening. "You know I miss you."

Hiro felt his own throat tighten at her words. He'd known Gogo was close to Tadashi, but...

She wiped at her face with one gloved hand, then turned and saw Baymax first. She smiled slyly and called out, "Hey, short stuff! How are you?"

He smiled and walked up to her, Baymax waddling along. "Okay," he replied, "You?"

She rested one fist on her hip and told him, "Working on that hoverboard. It's coming along pretty nicely, if I do say so myself."

He just smiled.

She nodded at Baymax and asked, "How are your systems running?"

"At full potential," he answered. Again, Hiro noticed that warm feeling radiating from Baymax, and his heater wasn't even activated.

Gogo seemed to notice it, too, as she looked curiously at Baymax for a few seconds before shaking her head. "Alright," she said, "what's the plan for today?"

Hiro's eyes widened; he hadn't even thought about that. Shrugging, he answered, "Whatever is fine."

She shook her head and said, "Okay. Don't tell your aunt I let you on my bike, alright?"

The smile that broke across his face absolutely lit him up. "Deal," he laughed, and he and Gogo got on her motorcycle, strapping helmets on under Baymax's watchful eye.

Err, hyperspectral cameras.

It wasn't until they were about to take off that they realized Baymax wouldn't be able to follow. Baymax, however, thought ahead and deflated almost completely, then waddled over to Hiro, his extra material dragging on the ground, and latched onto his back like a flabby backpack.

Gogo just went with it.

"Ready?" she asked, and Hiro tightened his arms around her waist.

"Ready," he answered.

"Ready!" Baymax echoed, and his tone of voice reminded Hiro of how he'd sounded with his batteries severely depleted. Thank goodness that wasn't the case; Hiro wasn't looking forward to jumping out any more windows anytime soon.

Gogo started the engine, and they zipped off through the city, taking the main streets to get the more scenic route. The flapping clamor from Baymax's extra material made conversation impossible, so the ride was relatively quiet-except for when Baymax suddenly shouted, "Wheeee!" in that same voice from the start of the ride.

Hiro wondered if Baymax's batteries really were depleted.

He watched buildings and shops whiz by at exciting speeds, his adrenaline revving his heart in time to the motor carrying them to destinations unknown. He had never been on anything faster than Tadashi's little moped, and the change in pace was exciting. Not even the car chase with Yokai had been this exciting.

As fast as he thought they were going, Gogo was barely over the speed limit; time just seemed to fly faster on the smaller vehicle than it did in the car. On her bike, she could feel the wind course through her, catching its wispy tendrils on the edge of her shirt, the zipper of her jacket, and of course, Baymax. Even with the added cacophony of wind on Baymax's body, she found the ride peaceful and harmonious, with everything just as it was supposed to be. For the first time since Tadashi died, she felt that all was right with the world.

She couldn't help but feel a tinge of regret that she couldn't share the moment with the man she loved most.

A few minutes later, they reached their destination: a park in the center of the city, with almost a mile of walking trails circling the shallow pond and the fountain at its center. Dismounting and prying Baymax from his back, Hiro struggled to pull off the helmet Gogo loaned him. She clicked her tongue at him, then pulled his hands away from the helmet, using her small fingers to gently remove it from that crazy mop he called his hair.

"Thanks," he said, and she just nodded, locking up her bike as Baymax reinflated himself.

"That was... fun," Baymax suddenly said, and Hiro and Gogo stared in shock. Baymax noticed their stares and asked, "What is wrong?"

Gogo shook her head, and Hiro just said, "Nothing."

Waddling forward to follow Gogo, Baymax gave Hiro a light punch on the arm when he passed him. Again, Hiro stared in shock. He knew Baymax was capable of learning, but this...

Things were getting weird where Baymax was concerned.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Admittedly, Gogo's affection for this park may or may not be a headcanon. I mean, she has to go somewhere during her brooding time. It could be a park, hypothetically.**

* * *

Gogo was very familiar with the park she had chosen to bring Hiro and Baymax to. Whenever she needed a break and wanted to get away from the world, she came here, to the soothing open air and natural beauty of pre-technology life. It was a guilty pleasure of hers to pretend for a moment what the world was like before the computer, or any of the creature comforts of the modern world.

Walking down the path with a practiced, slow gait, she pointed out the fountain in the distance, as well as a small copse of trees. That was where they headed first.

Hiro followed behind her, with Bamayx in the rear. Ducking beneath some overhanging branches, they stopped at the foot of a large oak, its branches doing a good job of blocking out the sunlight. Gogo sat on an exposed, gnarly root that clawed its way from the earth, making natural seating accommodations.

The root Hiro chose was right next to her, and as he settled into his spot, he watched Gogo lean back, her face turned to the leaves above them.

Baymax laid down on the ground a few yards away, his cameras focused on the treetops.

Hiro felt his breathing slow gradually as the peacefulness of nature worked its way into his consciousness. One by one, the sounds of city life melted away, replaced by the chatter of birds, the whispers of the trees, and the soothing song of nature's melodic silence.

He wasn't sure how long they sat there, but after what seemed like an eternity, Gogo stood, walked over to where Baymax was, and laid down on the grass next to him. Baymax sat up and scanned both of them, saying, "Your neural activity levels indicate you are relaxed, and sleepy."

"In that case, I think a nap is in order," Gogo answered him, resting one arm behind her head.

Following her lead, Hiro joined her and Baymax, flopping down on the grass on his side. His fingers played with some blades of grass, sweeping his hand back and forth, the ripples lulling him to sleep.

His sleep was dreamless, and he awoke not long after he'd fallen asleep. Opening his eyes slowly, the first thing he noticed was that Gogo was right next to him, her hand stroking his hair comfortingly. She watched him, her eyes kind, and waited for him to wake up fully before speaking.

"You were crying," she said simply, her voice laden with concern.

What she didn't tell him was that he had been crying aloud in his sleep. It was unintelligible at first, but when she rolled close, he reached out to her and took hold of her jacket, refusing to let go, muttering his brother's name over and over.

That was when she started stroking his hair, to try and calm him down. Almost as soon as she did, his breathing slowed, his hand relaxed, and the muttering stopped, but a few tears fell from his eyes, catching on his lashes and falling to the grass beneath his head.

Her heart throbbed painfully for him, and she leaned forward to press a kiss to his forehead.

Her kiss was what roused him from his slumber.

He didn't know that, of course; he couldn't even remember he had been dreaming about Tadashi, and by the time he sat up and rubbed at his eyes, the tears were long gone. As he scratched his head and yawned, stretching, Gogo looked to Baymax, who had scanned him already.

Baymax just gave Gogo a little nod, which was a surprise to her. She hadn't yet encountered his strange behavior in full, but she had a feeling it was coming. She saw it as a good thing that Wasabi had warned her before she set out to meet Hiro and Baymax.

"You seem to have rested well," Baymax said, standing. "You are quite relaxed and calm."

"Good to know, buddy," Hiro replied. "So," he added, looking to Gogo, "what exactly did you have planned, other than an impromptu nap?"

Gogo stood, brushed dirt off her clothes, and looked in the direction of her bike, clouds rolling in from the north. Offering the teen a hand to pull him up, she answered, "How about we grab a bite and get out of the open? It looks like it's gonna rain soon."

"Good idea," Baymax added. "I checked the weather report, which predicts heavy rainfall for this area in the next hour."

She smiled, despite the worry in her heart, and reached out to Hiro, drawing him close for a side-hug. Looking over her shoulder, she said, "Come on, Baymax," and started walking, Hiro still pressed to her side.

Confused, the boy asked, "Everything okay, Gogo?"

"Yeah," she answered. "Why wouldn't everything be okay?"

She knew, of course, as she shared the same worry and fear as the others, but she just let Hiro shrug in indifference. He wasn't about to let on how the Technomancer conundrum had given him a nightmare or two.

He just couldn't stop thinking about Mimi Fuji, or the story she had told him. It didn't add up, even when he took into account what he and Baymax had discovered, and he wouldn't be able to rest until they'd gotten to the bottom of it and unmasked the Technomancer.

He wished Tadashi were still with him; he would be able to figure it out, see a new angle that Hiro wouldn't ever think of, and help develop a way to trick the Technomancer into exposing himself, and maybe even getting himself caught. Hiro was well-aware of his own intelligence, but with the loss of his brother clouding his mind, he could barely process what was happening around him.

He realized he really was having a problem focusing when he nearly tripped over his own two feet; if Gogo didn't have an arm around his shoulder, he would've face-planted and possibly given himself a mild concussion.

"Easy," Gogo gently chastised him, "I know you need to keep your eyes in your head, but keep them on the ground, too. Your aunt would kill me if you lost precious brain cells on my watch."

That actually made him laugh, and he was thankful for Gogo's terse humor. She knew just how to lighten the mood in a mature way, and she never failed to get him to smile.

He again understood why she had been closest to Tadashi within their small college crowd. She was just the right blend of seriousness and humor, both rough and gentle, and was never afraid to speak her mind, whether it be to chastise or praise. He wished, not just for his own sake but hers, that Tadashi could've survived the fire in some miracle.

He knew it was an empty wish, but he wished for it regardless.

* * *

The restaurant Gogo ended up taking them to was a cute little sub shop, not unlike the Lucky Cat Café. An older woman manned the counter, taking orders and ordering around the short-order cook and the one lone waitress. She did it with a smile, though, that made her aged, wrinkled face look worn from happiness.

Baymax didn't order anything, of course, and to Gogo's surprise, Hiro didn't get much to eat, either. He insisted on a small cup of soup and half a sandwich, which was nothing compared to what he usually inhaled. Not even Baymax's cuddly chastisement could convince him otherwise.

When Gogo ordered her salad, she threw in two extra-large chocolate chip cookies, and even went so far as to send Baymax next door when Hiro went to the restroom to wash up. The nursebot returned in minutes with a bag of gummy bears, which he then affixed a Christmas bow to, despite the fact that Christmas was many months away. Hiro saw it lying on the table when he returned, and Gogo denied any part in the sweet surprise.

To the relief of both of his companions, he tore into the bag almost immediately, downing three red victims before Baymax could suggest he leave them for dessert. He then carefully folded the bag closed, shoved it in his pocket, bowed to his friends, offered a small smile and a hasty "thank you," and patted the bag where it was hidden safely within his hoodie pocket.

Gogo was glad to see him acting himself again, and they all relaxed a little bit as they waited for the food. Baymax launched into a conversation about how the food pyramid failed to include a section solely for gummy bears, sending Hiro into an excited flurry of carefully-prepared arguments and comebacks. Luckily, the sub shop was so loud that they could barely be heard over the din, but they calmed down on their own after a few minutes.

Both Gogo and Baymax were glad to see Hiro tear into his food when it arrived; though they both reminded him over and over to _no you actually have to chew DON'T CHOKE YOUR AUNT WILL KILL US IF YOU DIE._

They drew the attention of a small family just across the aisle from them, the two little girls perched on the edges of their seats laughing wholeheartedly at the young prodigy who was seemingly making an utter fool of himself.

Hiro didn't care; he'd managed to get out of the mood he'd been in after what happened in the park, and what did it matter if he just happened to entertain two cute little girls while doing it?

"Mama," one of the girls said, holding a piece of Apple to her mouth, "that's the boy with the helmet."

The girls' mother looked at Hiro and said, "Is that so? Mira, what is his helmet for?"

The other girl, a straw in her mouth, answered, "For superheroing!"

The mother nodded to them, winking at Hiro. She joked, "What active imaginations they have, hm?"

Hiro smiled, the gap in his teeth showing, and told her, "Well, they're actually correct. My friends and I are Big Hero 6, the superhero team. They might have seen us on the news."

The mother blanched at the confession. Shakily she asked, "You mean to tell me you actually fight bad guys and do all those dangerous things? How old are you?"

Somewhat defensively, he answered, "My friends are all in college."

Suddenly, Baymax's stomach lit up, and he played a video message from Honey telling them to meet her, Fred, and Wasabi at the lab. The trio stood, waved goodbye to the girls, and raced to Gogo's bike, hoping to make it back before it rained.

They were just in time; as soon as they entered the building, they could hear the sound of soft pattering on the roof, and a look out one window told them just how dark the sky had become with the arrival of the rain.

Crossing the building to the lab where the others were waiting for them. On the way, they passed Tadashi's lab, which Hiro had moved into since the showcase fire. Hiro stopped and told Gogo and Baymax to go ahead as he slipped inside.

The computer in the corner was on, which was odd. Hiro couldn't remember leaving it on when he'd last been in the lab, so he walked over to turn it off. As he shut his brother's computer down, he noticed that some of the papers on his desk had been moved, revealing a light blue sheet of paper with the words _come find me _scribbled on it in his brother's handwriting.

Crumpling the paper in his hand, he then noticed an unfamiliar blueprint, dated for days before Tadashi died, detailing more human-like robotics systems and...

An artificial, nearly-human heart.

On another sheet of paper attached to the blueprint, Tadashi had written the name, phone number, and... hospital room number of someone named Robert. Pocketing the sheet and the blueprint, he ran to catch up to Gogo and Baymax.

Passing doors left and right, he tried to slow down to turn the corner, but hit a wet spot on the floor and ended up careening into the wall. Someone was walking down the hall ahead of him, and when they saw him fall, immediately ran to his assistance.

"Are you okay?" he heard from where he laid on the floor in a heap, his hair in his face. Rolling onto his side, he looked to the ceiling to try and get his bearings.

The voice then found itself a face as the young girl who'd ran to help him popped into his field of vision, leaning over him from where she knelt on the slippery floor. She asked him again, "Are you okay?"

Rubbing his head, which throbbed lightly, he answered, "I'm fine, I'll be okay. I just wasn't expecting the floor to be wet."

The girl laughed as she stood and helped him up. "That's why you shouldn't run in the halls," she chastised him gently. Watching him brush himself off, she asked, "So, what's your name?"

Hiro smiled at the girl, who was wearing a light pink dress and white flats. Paired with her simple braid and large brown eyes, she was the picture of innocence. He held out his hand and introduced himself.

"Hiro Hamada, Robotics Department," he said, as the girl shook his hand excitedly.

"Your brother invented Baymax!" she exclaimed, a ferocious grin overtaking her face.

Hiro nodded, a sad smile crossing his face. "Yeah, he did."

To his surprise, the girl said, "Then he knew my brother. My name's Hanna, by the way. My brother started out in robotics alongside Tadashi, but transferred to bioengineering after his first semester."

_That's good to know_, Hiro thought, filing the information away in that vault of a brain of his. "Does he like it in bioengineering?" he asked.

Hana frowned, but then smiled kindly at Hiro. "He dropped out of school because of health problems."

Hiro's eyes widened in shock, and his heart went out to the girl. He sighed, "Wow, I'm so sorry."

Hana shook her head and said, "It's no big deal. You didn't know. Anyways," she said suddenly, "I have to go. Nice to meet you, Hiro. Try not to run and fall again."

"Yeah," Hiro said, waving as she skipped off down the hall.

She was one weird girl; that much was obvious.

He continued down the hall, careful to slow his pace down. When he finally arrived at the lab, Baymax was studying Honey's computer screen very intently, and Gogo and Wasabi were sitting tensely at the workbench. Fred was sitting on the floor, reading a comic book like nothing had happened.

"Honey, what's going on?" he asked, rubbing his head, which had finally stopped throbbing.

Baymax stood, turned to him, and said, "We have identified the reason why Mimi Fuji has an artificial heartbeat. She is not, in fact, a robot, but her heart is."

Hiro blanched, sticking his hand in his pocket where the blueprints were.

"Honey Lemon found a website online detailing the medical history and journey of the recipient of the world's first artificial heart. We have reason to believe this unnamed patient was Mimi. We also have reason to believe," he added, scratching his head in a distinctly human way, "that we are being led to believe she is a robot by the Technomancer on purpose."

His head began to spin in confusion. Nothing made sense, and he looked to Gogo and Wasabi for explanation.

They shook their heads and seemed to lean even more heavily on the workbench.

He looked to Honey, and she smiled sadly at him, holding her arms out as he walked right into a reassuring hug.

"We'll figure this out, Hiro," she said, stroking his hair just like how Tadashi used to.

He buried his face in her sweater and hoped so.

* * *

The shadowy, hooded figure knocked on the door to Fujisan's room, then entered. The room was enormous and lavishly decorated with Japanese antiques, and in the center sat a kotatsu under which Fujisan's legs were tucked to ward off the chill of the night. Approaching the man, the shadow bowed and gave his daily report.

"The damage caused by Big Hero 6 has been repaired, but M1-07 is still behaving abnormally," he said.

Fujisan frowned. He hadn't initially minded his niece being referred to as M1-07, but he had begun to find it annoying and disrespectful.

"She should receive maintenance to fix her abnormal behaviors," the figure added.

_Maybe your head needs maintenance_, Fujisan thought with contempt as the figure left without another word.

Sighing and sipping his green tea, he thought, _Note to self: never again hire potentially mentally unstable amnesiacs, regardless of their intelligence and giftedness in robotics. _

Outside, the figure removed his hood, revealing a heavily-bandaged face, almost completely covered in white gauze on the left side. The features that weren't obscured by the cloth and tape were young, masculine, and lined with a persistent tiredness that could only stem from sleep deprivation and the likes of it.

The figure looked down at his left hand, which was also heavily bandaged, and sighed. He still could not recall the details of the fire, but could recall with ease the searing pain of having the first few layers of skin burned off a fifth of his body.

A flash of memory caught in his mind, but it was distorted by the amnesia.

_Five figures, each clothed in a different color. A tall wraith of yellow, a gremlin in purple and black, an ogre in green, a slim monster of blue, and a petite madman in bloody red._

_The madman calls out, Brother, brother, come back to me._

_The monster roars, laughs, then is engulfed in flames. _

_The ogre dances around on his tiptoes, hands darting out to grab, place, grab, place, rearrange._

_The wraith cries, swaying on her spindly legs._

_The gremlin climbs on top of a car and blows a bubble of blood, popping and consuming the memory._

The figure shook his head to clear his thoughts, yet the small madman remained within his clouded mind.

He would have to do some research and see if he could find out who the madman in his memory was. He wondered if the madman had anything to do with the boy he had left the message for in the city square.

He wondered if that boy was the same boy that M1-07 appeared to have developed a liking for, despite her programming.

* * *

Mimi rubbed her chest and debated putting another layer of bandages on it to protect the wound. Her heart beat steadily, and she thanked the higher powers that be for her still being alive. The artificial heart keeping her blood pumping was surely a gift from God, though the crazed inventor was getting on her nerves.

She couldn't help but wonder when he would finally leave. Sure, she was thankful that he'd saved her life, but she wondered why he wasn't helping the other candidate who had been swapped out for her at the last second. That boy, who had been in the picture of health before his sudden heart failure put his young life on hold, was still stuck in the hospital, fighting for survival. And the man who'd given her a new heart had yet to do the same for him.

Rubbing the back of her neck, her fingers brushed over the delicate skin the figure often jabbed with a finger, putting her in a paralytic state and psychologically forcing her hand. She hated the fact she couldn't fight his wishes for fear that he would do something to her.

She hated the fact that her idol, her role model, the reason why she wanted to attend SFIT and be a robotics student... he was trapped within his own mind, fried by disaster and irreparable as far as she knew.

She had thought that making Rohan would help his mind clear, but when she showed him her invention, he was completely indifferent to it.

Hiro's reaction, on the other hand, was exactly what she had been expecting.

She was counting on Hiro, and the clues she made the figure leave for him, to figure out what had happened. To figure out the truth.

But if Hiro's behavior in her presence was any indication, the trauma caused by the showcase fire was making easy conclusions impossible for him to realize.

She knew that, once the truth was out, he would be kicking himself for not realizing it sooner. It would be downright humiliating to the teenaged prodigy.

Mimi winced at the thought of humiliating him, even on accident.

_That's a terrible way to get a guy to like you_, she thought.

* * *

**A/N: DUN-DUN-DUUUUUN! **

**Okay, this one was pretty long. Exciting? You decide.**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Warning - I currently cannot admit to being a TadashixGogo shipper, because I am being swayed to the TadaHoney side. But, I must admit, they do look cute together. **

**This chapter is surprisingly long compared to previous chapters -roughly 4,000 words, give or take a few. I might not be able to get a new chapter out until the middle of this week, because I'm currently buried under a pile of homework. (My teachers like to randomly gang up on me every once in a while.) You guys are gonna be miffed at me by the end, for having to wait to read chapter 11. **

**All Things Animated: I'm glad you liked it :) I tried to write in a nice little sweet scene to break up the relative dark mood.**

* * *

There were no clues, no mysterious happenings, no revelations for another two weeks. Everyone was so caught up in schoolwork that they almost forgot about the Technomancer.

Well, everyone except Hiro, of course.

He had studied the blueprints he found detailing the artificial heart for days, refusing to leave his desk for anything other than bathroom breaks. Aunt Cass had to bring him food to make sure he ate, because he was so engrossed in his own little world that he often ignored the rumbling in his stomach in favor of quieting the rumbling in his heart.

Pushing back from his desk, and nearly tipping his chair over, he sighed in frustration and buried his hand in his mop of hair, which had grown even more unruly from not brushing it as often as he should.

Frowning deeply at the papers in front of him, he tried for the thousandth time to try and figure out how the jumbled puzzle pieces in front of him fit together.

First, there was the message in the city square. Only Tadashi had ever said that.

Then there was the fake Technomancer. She was the distraction that Mimi girl needed to nab him.

That brought him to Rohan and Mimi herself. If the others were right about their hunch, and if Mimi really was the recipient of the artificial heart, then that would explain Mimi's affinity for robotics.

But the blueprints...

If the blueprints really were Tadashi's, then that would mean someone stole Tadashi's technology to create Mimi's new heart.

The thought of someone stealing his brother's tech brought up old fury at Callaghan for stealing the MicroBots. His blood began to boil, but again, he was faced with the memory of those two horrible words.

He shook his head to clear his thoughts, and ended up making himself dizzy from the added spinning of his chair. Planting his feet firmly on the floor to stop himself, he took a few deep breaths to calm the nausea rising in his stomach.

His gag reflex activated, and he put a hand to his mouth to keep from tossing his cookies. He shouldn't have been so affected by the spinning and shaking his head; he'd managed to survive the craziest rides at the San Fransokyo Carnival, but Tadashi's death had complicated things.

Hiro looked to his brother's half of the room, the sliding doors closing it off from his own messy half. His vision blurred, and a single tear rolled down his cheek. Wiping at it with his sleeve, he smiled and thought to himself, _Keep it together, you baby. Cool guys like you don't cry_.

_Not even over their older brothers?_ a voice in his head asked.

"No," he said aloud, "I can't keep crying. I have to..." His throat tightened with emotion as the memory of his brother's face flooded his mind. He managed to choke out, "I have to be strong for Aunt Cass."

"Honey," a soft voice said, and Hiro turned to see his aunt leaning on the door frame, "you don't have to be strong for me; I'm a big girl. You just need to be strong for yourself."

His lip quivered in pain, the heartache new again at her words, and he buried his face in his hands to hide the tears. Cass quickly reached his side and folded him into a hug, his head against her breast, and she stroked his hair lightly, her shirt growing wetter with each passing breath.

Hiro tried to speak, but she shushed him. "Look at me," she said, raising his head with a light touch, "It's okay to cry. I can imagine that if he was in your place, he would be crying like a baby, because he loves you."

Sniffling, he replied, "And I love him, too."

She clicked her tongue and said, "Sweetheart, we all do."

They somehow managed to smile through the pain, because as much as they missed Tadashi and wished he was still with them, they always had each other.

He was refreshed, oddly enough, by that moment with his aunt. He felt his head clear and the persistent gloom around him lifted, that prodigious mental acuity returning swiftly. Instead of taking advantage of the renewed sharpness, he thought it wise to take a break from the impossible puzzle before him.

Indeed, he made much better use of his time... playing video games with Baymax.

Hiro hadn't ever played on the new motion-sensing console before; it had been a Christmas gift the previous year, and he had wanted to break it in with Tadashi, who'd always been busy with this project or that. Of course, Hiro then gradually grew busy as well, and the console went unused for months.

Revealing it from its hidden spot beneath a pile of papers, he checked the connections -it had been set up and ready to go the day they opened it- and then changed the input mode on the television as he booted it up.

"Alright," he said, performing the initial setup while Baymax played with Mochi on the floor, "Ready to get your squishy butt kicked, my friend?"

Baymax's voice took on a distinctly mischievous tone as he answered, "It is you who will be getting your butt kicked."

Hiro's eyebrows shot up into his hairline, and Baymax blinked at him, adding, "It is just an expression."

"...Yeah," Hiro said unconvincingly. "Whatever, buddy."

He finished the setup and then helped Baymax calibrate the sensors to recognize his big, marshmallowy form. It took them a few tries, but it eventually worked, and they each got to design their own avatar.

Hiro took his time in fine-tuning his, and it ended up looking just like him, hair and all. Baymax, however, was not so precise in his avatar design.

Hiro took one look at it and burst out laughing, falling to the floor -he paused to say "ow," making Baymax shake his head in a comical fashion- and holding his sides, which were quickly consumed by painful stitches - which only made him laugh harder.

Baymax's avatar was ghostly pale, and a giant indeterminate blob cloaked in white. It just looked so ridiculous -not to mention the fact it was bald- that he couldn't help but laugh.

Confused, Baymax asked, "What is so funny, Hiro? Does my avatar not look like me?"

Hiro managed to calm himself down a little, and choked out, "Yeah, buddy, that's the point. It looks just like you."

"Huh," Baymax replied, and he filed it away within his processor as a quirk of human nature. He didn't want to think that Hiro was making fun of him; that would just be rude.

Picking himself up off the floor, Hiro chuckled one last time before saying, "Alright, buddy, let's play."

"If you're ready," Baymax teased, and they started a round of bowling.

* * *

He scoots closer, yet keeps his distance, content just to be next to you. He knows you're going through something he can't understand, and he is willing to stay by your side no matter what.

You sigh happily, glad to have a friend as strong as him, thankful that your friendship has lasted for all these years.

After moments of silence pass peacefully, he speaks.

"What's wrong?" he asks softly. "I know you wouldn't call for me for nothing."

You look to him out of the corner of your eye, and your gaze falls upon his black hair, dark eyes, and the light pink flush of his cheeks. His shirt is a dark emerald color, and his cream cardigan is a brilliant flash of contrast against the hue of the fabric. The intelligence and wisdom in the air is concentrated around him, and he has a gentle way about him as he offers you his hand.

You take it, but feel nothing but a light coolness against your skin. The absence of feeling makes you wince in distress, and he frowns, his brows knitting together in worry. His hand tightens around yours, but you still can't feel anything but a cool sensation.

It makes you wish he was alive, so you could feel his arms when he holds you as you cry.

* * *

He asks again, gently, "What's wrong? It's been a long time since we've gotten to talk, so it must be about something important."

When you don't answer, he adds, "You know I'm always here for you."

At his words, you click your tongue in response.

"That is such a catch-22," you lament. "Yes, you're here with me, in spirit, but you aren't here in body."

His face falls.

Immediately you want to kick yourself for saying that; he's always meant so much to you, and for him to be able to be with you at all is a miracle. But you just can't help but want more.

"Wait," you say, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that. I just..."

He looks at you expectantly, and you suck in a breath, then let it out slowly. You let yourself deflate fully, and then finish your statement.

"I just..." You pause, your throat tightening and your eyes watering. You take one look at his face as he bites his lip in worry, and that gives you the strength to finish.

"I just wish you were alive. I wish you hadn't died in the fire. I wish you were here, bodily, and could really touch me, really hold me."

He looks down at you, his eyes watering, and lifts his free hand to your cheek, caressing your skin lightly. You're not sure if it's your mind playing tricks on you, or if it's something more, but the feeling of his skin against yours isn't cold.

He smiles sadly at you, and tells you, "I know. I wish I could be here, too, but things are this way for a reason."

Sighing, your gaze travels from his hand on your cheek up to his face, and the fire that so often drove you in the past is back again, after weeks of wallowing. Your hand closes around his, and excitedly you gasp, "I know! I'm thankful for any time with you at all! I know this is more than I deserve, especially since your brother and aunt miss you more. I'm thankful to have had this time with you."

And, just as you expected, he smiles.

"Me too," he breathes, "me too."

His hands travel to your waist, and he gently tugs you close and into his embrace. As you bury your face into his shirt, you can still smell his cologne, the faintly comforting scent of motor oil, the same scents that always wafted towards you whenever he walked by. His arms fold across your back, and he begins to stroke your hair softly, a warm feeling greeting you wherever your body meets his.

You let your arms wrap around his neck, and he chuckles in delight. The joy he feels is echoed in your own heart as your lips quiver, then draw themselves up and out of the gloom that has plagued you since the night of the showcase.

Despite yourself, you whisper into his ear something you wish you'd told him when he was alive.

He smiles even more brightly, and you swear that for just a second, his body explodes in warmth, liveliness, gentleness, and that persistent ferocious creativity that was the catalyst that brought about the birth of Baymax.

It feels so right to be with him.

You know it won't last.

If you could make this moment last forever, you would, but you accept the fact that it must come to an end. You know what it is he is going to say when he rests his hands on your shoulders and holds you at arm's length.

"You know," he says simply, and you nod your head, your purple streaks falling into your eyes.

"I won't be seeing you again," you say, and he nods sadly.

Resting his hand over your heart, his body cold once more, he leans down and presses his lips to your cheek. Letting his head hover for a moment, he reminds you, "I'll see you again, one day. But until then, I'll always be in your heart."

You slam your eyes shut, and feel the coldness dissipate as he moves away from you. You've tried to prepare for this moment, but nothing could prepare you to lose him all over again. Acting completely opposite to your personality, in a moment of weakness, you cry out for him, your arms flailing forward, your vision clouded with tears.

You didn't expect anything, but you suddenly feel a warm body press against yours, and your eyes snap open, the tears spilling and clearing from your sight.

He doesn't speak, just looks at you tearfully, and you throw your arms around his neck again and press your lips to his.

It only lasts for a second, but it feels like a sweet eternity to you.

You step back, out of his reach, and close your eyes. Whether it's from shame or not wanting to watch him disappear, you can't be sure.

When you open your eyes again, Hiro is leaning over you, your body splayed out on the Hamadas' couch, his hand hovering just above your face, like he was about to touch your cheek and wake you up.

* * *

"What are you looking at?" Gogo asked as Hiro backed away and watched her run a hand through her jet black and purple hair, then as she rubbed at her eyes and rolled into a sitting position.

"Nothing," the boy answered calmly. "Have a bad dream?"

She looked at him, disgusted, but then her face relaxed, and she reached out for him with one hand.

Misunderstanding her, he slipped his hand into hers, and was alarmed when she pulled him into her arms and tucked his head against her shoulder.

He stiffened for a second, then relaxed as she wrapped her arms around him, holding him close. He held her back, and felt her body deflate, her grasp on him loosening.

"Promise me you won't run into any burning buildings," she whispered into his hair. "I can't lose you, too."

A sharp twinge of pain shot through his heart, and he hugged her tightly.

"I promise," he said.

"Good," she replied, drawing her usual stiff personality on over her vulnerability. She let go of him, so he got up and walked over to the fridge to find her something to eat.

She had driven over late the previous night, and when he had opened the door, she simply walked in and flopped down on the couch without explanation or greeting. Some time after she had fallen asleep, he came down to check on her, found her mumbling Tadashi's name, and drew a blanket on over her to comfort her. It was late morning when he woke up and headed down to check on her, bringing him to the present as he rifled through the fridge in an effort to scrape together some kind of acceptable sustenance.

His search was complicated by the fact that they needed to go grocery shopping; Gogo realized this as she walked up behind him and peered into the empty fridge and cupboards.

Hiro discovered a note on the counter from Aunt Cass, with a wad of cash tucked beneath. It instructed him to go grab milk, eggs, and other essentials from the corner store, and to bring home some pizza for dinner. At the bottom of the note, she had hastily scribbled, _Invite the others over, too!_

Peering over his shoulder, Gogo read what Cass had written and immediately texted the others, inviting them on Hiro's behalf. He gave her a teasing frown, then smiled and pocketed the cash, tucking it safely in his wallet. He figured forty dollars would be enough to get essentials and a snack or two to keep them held over until Cass could undergo a Proper Shopping Trip.

Gogo straightened the couch up and gathered her keys and wallet, which had been haphazardly tossed onto the coffee table when she came in the night before. Nodding at Hiro, she followed him downstairs and out the door, pausing as he locked up. She offered to follow him and help with the groceries, but he politely declined.

"I'm fourteen. I can handle myself," he asserted, and she shrugged.

"Don't get yourself kidnapped," she commanded, then mounted her bike and sped off. Hiro waved until she disappeared from sight down the street.

He mockingly echoed, "Don't get yourself kidnapped," in an unnaturally high voice, and a sly grin blossomed on his face as he casually sauntered down the sidewalk. He didn't feel like he was in any danger, considering the grocery store was about fifty yards down the street, but he made sure to be wary of his surroundings anyways.

Briefly he pondered why she had told him to be so cautious: the Technomancer and Rohan were good reasons, though he doubted she was referring to them.

He skidded to a stop, eyes nearly popping out of his head as he looked down at himself, taking in his shorts that reached below the knee, oversized tee and hoodie, and stunted height.

He looked like a twelve-year-old.

San Fransokyo wasn't known for it, but he knew it could happen anywhere. Picking up his pace, he darted into the store, letting out the breath he hadn't realized he was holding in. He knew he was safe in a store full of people, cameras, and... cops?

"Hi, officers," he greeted as he approached one short, rotund man who wasn't much taller than he was. "What seems to be the problem?"

The officer turned to him, and he struck Hiro as familiar. Shaking his head, he told the boy, "Look, kid, this is an adult thing. Just stay out of the way and out of danger."

Indignantly Hiro blurted out, "I'm in college!"

Dubious, the officer gave him the once-over, and quickly gave him the gist of the situation as another officer walked up.

"That Technologies character struck again," the officer explained. "He left a hologram projector, but we can't get it to work, so we have no idea what's on it."

A knowing smile crept across the young prodigy's face, and he told the officer, "My name is Hiro Hamada," and the officer who had just walked up pointed to him and gestured for him to follow.

He started walking away, and Hiro hesitated for a second before following. The officer approached a circle of bodies, which parted to let him and the boy through.

"I know who you are," he said, "so maybe you can help us out." He held his hand out to another officer, who handed him the small hologram projector, and then he passed it off to Hiro, his only instruction being, "We do need to know what's on this thing so we can report it."

"Sure thing, officer," he replied, and went to town on the small silver-and-blue box. Within seconds he had it fixed, and the projector sparked to life, emanating a soft green light that quickly took the form of a face.

He nearly dropped the hologram projector as the face spoke.

"_I'm coming for you, little madman,_" it said, before sparking once more and terminating the video. It couldn't have lasted more than a few seconds, but Hiro felt aged by eternity.

The officer who'd enlisted his help noticed his ghostly appearance, and rested a hand on his shoulder, saying, "It's okay, kid. It's going to be okay."

He had begun to shake his head before the officer had even spoken, and he stopped as the officer removed his hand from his shoulder and knelt in front of the stunned teen.

"No," he replied, "it's not."

His vision blurred, and he realized he'd begun shaking uncontrollably. The officer grabbed his arms to steady him, but was quickly brushed aside by a female officer, who drew the boy into her arms and rested his head against her chest, stroking his hair lightly. She looked over his head to the Police Chief, and mouthed the words, _Tadashi Hamada_.

The Chief pointed to the projector, and the female officer nodded solemnly.

_That explains why he's freaking out,_ the Chief thought. _But the question is, how did that villain get a hologram of the older Hamada?_

Hiro had thought the same thing, but wasn't as concerned with the particulars. He was too busy having an internal meltdown to think about the how and why.

He couldn't close his eyes without seeing his brother's face, and his heart cried out in anger and confusion. The Technomancer had somehow gotten a hologram of his brother, his dead brother, saying something that was utterly baffling. He had a primitive sense that the hologram was meant for him, but he had no idea why his brother would call him a madman. Or how the Technomancer even knew Hiro.

Hiro began to rethink Gogo's earlier warning.

The female officer loosened her grip on him, and held him at arm's length to speak with him. Her kind green eyes gazed into his watery browns, and she said, "My name is Natalie Carraway. Everything is going to be okay, Hiro. I promise we'll protect you."

Evidently she had gathered that Hiro's reaction wasn't just about that face belonging to his brother. She had a feeling that the Technomancer would do everything in his power to take the child, and she wouldn't let that happen. She couldn't let that happen to the younger brother of the man that had fought so hard to save her own little brother.

Tucking him against her side, she nodded to the Police Chief and escorted Hiro out of the store. He let her lead him without protest, and remained virtually silent until she stopped to ask him where he lived.

He pointed to a sign in the distance that read _Lucky Cat Café,_ and she nodded, communicating her intentions into the radio clipped to her shoulder.

"Ten-four," someone responded, and she took off with the frazzled teen down the busy street.

When they crossed the road, Hiro found his eyes wandering down an alleyway. He saw movement in the shadows, and when he paused to look more closely, he nearly broke out in hysterics as Officer Carraway spun him around and pressed his face to her uniform to break his line of vision.

He didn't fight her, just let her hold him as his head spin and bile rose in the back of his throat. It couldn't be... His mind had to be playing tricks on him. It had to be; it was impossible. Tadashi was dead, gone, never coming back.

* * *

_Impossible._

_It can't be. Tadashi..._

_Dead. Buried. Gone. Not coming back._

_Back..._

_Back._

_Tadashi is... here._

_Tadashi is here._

_Baymax said... it must be true. _

_True... what?_

_Tadashi..._

_The fire._

_Callaghan escaped..._

_Tadashi could have... Tadashi is..._

_Alive._

_Tadashi is alive._

_Tadashi called me a madman..._

_Tadashi..._

_The Technomancer..._

_Tadashi is..._

_Tadashi is the Technomancer. _


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: I got this chapter ready as quickly as I could, doing my best to not sacrifice quality writing. I know it hasn't exactly made sense/added up so far, but there is a reason for everything that's happened... and you'll find out what those reasons are very, very soon.**

**For those that expressed concern about a HiroxMimi ship, let me alleviate your concerns: _I will not EVER ship canon characters with OCs_. Mimi's crush for Hiro is totally one-sided and partly based on the fact that he's Tadashi's younger brother, and Tadashi is her idol. Hiro only got flushed because he was embarrassed at the thought that she liked him, and he's a teenage boy. _Girls are still super icky, except Gogo and Honey, who are awesome._ (In other words, it was comic relief and a way for me to work another "diagnosis: puberty" scene in there.)**

**Expect some comedic scenes to lighten things up, like how the first few chapters were written. (But no HiroxMimi.)  
**

**-Noel**

* * *

It was a moment of perfect clarity, the kind that only exists at the center of the deepest depressions, and in that perfect clarity Hiro realized what everyone's grief had been making them miss. The one element of the impossible puzzle that he had continually glossed over, the impossible existence of the chance that his brother had, in fact, survived the fire just as Callaghan had. The idea had never even occurred to him, because he had been there when the building exploded, watched Tadashi run in and give his life, and had misinterpreted what he had seen, accepting it at face value so completely that any alternatives were a mere slap to the wall of absolutes he had erected within his mind.

Hiro was torn from his grief by the profound joy at realizing Tadashi was still alive. He didn't care much, at that moment, for exploring the reasoning behind Tadashi's calling him a madman, or why Tadashi had become a villain so meticulous in his preying that he would go so far as to drop stunning hints in public places and hire a fake Technomancer to allow Hiro to be kidnapped.

The positivity of the stunning revelation aside, the suddenness of it caused his brain and emotions to shut down, making him sway when Natalie turned him back around.

His vision darkened, and his head became a hot-air balloon as she scooped him into her arms and carried him home.

* * *

"Thank you for bringing him home," Cass said as Natalie laid Hiro in his bed on the third floor. "I can't believe he had low blood sugar. This kid is addicted to gummy bears, practically."

Natalie winced at the lie, but figured that telling the anguished woman the truth would cause even greater hysterics than she had seen with Hiro. Straightening to her full height, just a few inches over the older woman, she tipped her hat and said, "My brother was the same way, though not with gummy bears. He actually used to go to the same college, before he was hospitalized for heart failure."

Cass' hands flew to her mouth, and she exclaimed, "Oh, gosh, I'm so sorry! How did that happen, if you don't mind me asking?"

Natalie had a sad smile on her face as she confessed, "He was born with a rare heart condition."

Cass nodded solemnly and led Natalie downstairs. On the way, she commented, "You said Tadashi went to the same college as your brother... what's his name? Tadashi might have mentioned him once or twice."

Fixing her hat, Natalie told her.

"That's too bad," Cass replied, "I can't remember him ever mentioning that name. I'm sorry."

Shaking her head, Natalie said, "It's no big deal. Bobby switched out of robotics pretty early on. He might not have gotten to interact with your nephew."

Cass nodded in understanding, but all the same gave her an encouraging smile as she let the officer out. "I hope he recovers," she called out as the young woman crossed the street.

"Thanks," she called over her shoulder. "I hope Hiro will wake up soon."

"Oh, he will!" she laughed before heading back inside, then up the stairs to see her one remaining nephew.

By the time she slipped through the half-closed door, Hiro was already awake. His aunt had brought him a handful of gummy bears and a comic, then instructed him to rest and recover from his fainting spell.

He took the gummy bears without question, but declined the comic that had been left at the house by Fred at one time or another. Shoving only the red ones in his mouth, he decimated his small population of candy victims and crossed the room to flop down into his desk chair. He patted his pocket, searching for his cell phone, but heard the crinkle of paper instead.

Pulling out a small folded sheet of paper, he opened it and studied the note, smiling at Officer Carraway's cleverness.

_Told her you had low blood sugar. Here's my number, call me about the Technomancer. - Natalie_

Booting up his computer, he decided to do a quick search on Natalie Carraway. He wasn't expecting a splitting headache and another dizzy spell.

The ridiculous number of coincidences he'd encountered as of late was beginning to get on his nerves. He roughly yanked open his desk drawer and rummaged around for the artificial heart blueprints of Tadashi's, then looked at the note with Robert's name on it and decided to make a phone call.

"How fast can you get me to San Fransokyo General Hospital?"

He studied the clock, awaiting an answer.

"Come get me. I have a visit to pay. And tell the others the pizza plans are on hold."

* * *

The hooded figure -who by now you've most likely figured out is Tadashi, if it wasn't clear last time we jumped perspectives like this- paced agitatedly, a concerned Mimi watching him. She had her hand held over her heart, and was wondering what Tadashi was going to make her do next.

She was thankful that his confused mental state gave her room to fudge things and maintain his delusion that she was a robot just because her heart was artificial. She hadn't thought her explanation was particularly clever, but he was in an especially vulnerable state, and was _very _receptive to deception. Telling him the rest of her "mechanical" body was manufactured and maintained by another person was an easy out, and kept him calm.

Something, however, had just subverted that calm, lighting an intense fire within Tadashi. For what reason, Mimi wasn't sure.

She watched him dart across the room, in constant motion and muttering to himself. Straining her ears, she could just make out some of what he was saying.

"Mad... little man... s-stranger... super hero... remember..." he grumbled to himself, thrusting his hands into his hair, the muscles in his left arm making the gauze stretch to its limits. While he had finally been able to remove the gauze covering his face, parts of his arm and chest were still recovering. The exposed skin was dyed a light pink by the scarring from the fire, giving him a distorted look; Mimi couldn't say honestly that it had disfigured him.

She did, however, grow worried at the word "remember." If Tadashi were to start to get his memory back, it could cause severe chaos, or even break his fragile state of mind. She didn't want to see him get hurt, after everything she'd done to try to protect him.

There was some time left, before things got really hairy. If he had been able to do the live feed on the hologram projector, and see Hiro's reaction through the hidden camera without recognizing him, there was time.

Not much, she knew, but there had never been much time to begin with.

* * *

Natalie stood anxiously at the foot of her brother's bed as their little sister cried over his sleeping form. Neither one of them had taken the news well, and the older woman knew he didn't have much time left.

She mulled over the doctor's words in her mind, picking out the important ones like _irreversible_ and _progressing_ and _terminal_ and _six_.

Her train of thought was derailed by her sister's sudden sob, and she rushed to her side, pulling her into her arms. Stroking her soft brown hair, which had long since fallen from its braid, she calmed the girl, humming a song to her. The girl calmed quickly, but cried silently as Natalie carried her from the room.

Natalie planned on heading home, but something made her stop and collapse into a chair outside her brother's room. She recognized that gut feeling that had helped her many a time on the force, the same feeling that had made her believe the Technomancer was out to get the younger Hamada. Her gut was telling her shed see hum again very soon.

In the meantime, she adjusted her sister's position in her lap, and leaned her head against the wall, quickly slipping into shallow sleep.

The slumber was a luxury she hadn't been afforded much of in recent days.

As she nodded off, she felt her sister rest her head on her chest, her weeping done for the moment. A wave of relief washed over Natalie, and she whispered to her young companion, "We'll get through this, Hanna."

* * *

Wasabi arrived in front of the Lucky Cat Café ten minutes after Hiro had called him, the prodigy opening the passenger door and leaping inside with noted alarm. A handful of papers were clutched in his left hand while his right darted diagonally across his body to click the seatbelt into place.

"What's the rush, little dude?" the relaxed driver asked, and Hiro just gave him an exasperated look before explaining.

Waving the papers in his hand, he said, "I have a lead on the Technomancer, but we have to go investigate a possible witness first. He's at San Fransokyo General Hospital, and he might not be alive now."

That made Wasabi drive on the speed limit -as opposed to five miles below it.

On the way, he asked, "You said you have a lead, right? Who do you think it is? Someone we know?"

Hiro's eyes flashed in recognition, but Wasabi didn't notice, his eyes on the road. The teen sighed and simply said, "Somebody we used to know."

Wasabi took a second-long break from boring holes in the road to roll his eyes in an unappreciative manner.

"That tells me a lot," he muttered under his breath.

The remainder of the ride passed in terse silence.

Getting to the hospital was quick, but finding a parking spot was nearly impossible.

"You have _got_ to be kidding me," Wasabi exclaimed, his dreads standing on end. "How many people need to get to the gosh-dang hospital at this time of day? And why can none of them park correctly?!"

Beside him, Hiro rolled his eyes, throwing the door open and hopping out as Wasabi studied the parking lot carefully.

"Um, where are you going?" the older man asked, one eyebrow raised and giving Hiro the impression he'd like to tie the young boy up and keep him on a tight leash.

"You find a spot. I'm going to go in ahead and see if I can find the room. Meet you inside," he called over his shoulder as he ran up to the entrance, leaving Wasabi behind.

It wasn't until after he'd found a parking spot in the very back of the lot that he climbed out of the car, shook his fist at the sky, and bellowed, "You didn't even tell me what room number we're looking for!"

He narrowly dodged the splat of white that was his only reply.

* * *

Hiro slowed his hurried pace when he reached the entrance. Sorting through the stack of papers in his hand, he found the slip that had what he was looking for, then approached the front desk.

He took a moment to curse his short stature, peering over the countertop as best he could. He cleared his throat and began, "Hi. I'm Hiro Hamada, and I'm looking for a patient's room-"

"Visiting hours are closed," a small, gruff voice shot back, "so you'll have to come back tomorrow."

He snorted quietly, fisted the papers, and asserted, "I really need to know if this patient is even at this hospital. He may be dead by now. Can't you at least tell me that?"

The same gruff, small voice said, "I can't release privileged information to anyone other than the patient's family. And you're obviously not family, or you'd know if the patient was still alive."

"But-"

"No buts!" the gruff voice added, "And that's final!"

Hiro was just about to protest again, but a warm, sweet voice said, "Oh, Delores, don't harp on the boy."

Hiro looked up at the woman who had spoken, and saw a pair of gentle green eyes looking down at him. Her hair was a brilliant red, tied back in a simple knot at the base of her neck, and she smiled softly, the corners of her lips just barely turning up. He recalled a brief lesson from an Art History class he took in high school, and was given the impression that the young, kind nurse had a Mona Lisa smile.

"Who is it you're trying to find?" she asked. "I might be able to help you."

"Larissa," the grumpy nurse warned, but the young redhead waved her off.

Hiro handed the woman the slip of paper over the counter, and it took a mere glance for her to say, "He's still here, but just barely alive. He's got a few weeks at most. His family is actually still upstairs... What's this for?"

"It's about the Technomancer," he said, and Larissa immediately pointed him to the elevator at the end of the hall.

"Fourth floor, third on the right. Cardio wing," she blurted, Delores frowning fiercely. "Good luck, Hiro!"

He turned once he reached the elevator, and waved at the women, a thankful smile on his face.

Commanding steel doors slid open with a quiet _whoosh_, and he darted inside, stabbing at the softly-glowing _4 _on the panel. As he waited for the doors to glide shut, he watched as Larissa came out from behind the counter and stood in the center of the hallway, her hand resting on something beneath her scrubs.

The doors slid shut as Delores looked at her young companion, asking, "Why did you tell him? You know that can get us in trouble."

Larissa pulled a small pendant from within her shirt, looking down at the shamrock encased in resin. She smiled at the closing elevator doors and said, "That boy's brother was the one who was going to give Bobby a new heart. When we heard the news that the trial patient had been switched, it crushed us all. But if he can make things right..."

Delores shook her graying head and replied, "Just because he's a Hamada doesn't mean he's going to be able to save your cousin, kid. Just look what happened last time."

"That wasn't Tadashi's fault. He had no control over who got the test heart," Larissa fired back. She took a deep breath to calm herself, and added, "I have faith in Hiro."

Huffing, her aged perspective telling her not to get her hopes up, Delores spun around in her chair and scooted over to the other workstation. _Maybe_... she thought, _Maybe this boy will be different. I can only hope, for Bobby's sake and that of his sisters and cousin._

It was a peaceful moment, as Larissa moved back to her post and Delores clicked rhythmically away at the computer.

Of course, it just had to be ruined by a certain unfortunate goofball running in and exclaiming, "I'm looking for a kid about this tall named Hiro who's looking for some guy in the hospital have you seen him he ran off and left me to park the car oh crap I can't breathe," and he gasped, sucking in air like they weren't making any more of it, leaning heavily on his knees with his dreads everywhere and his sizable chest quivering from the exertion and classic Wasabi franticness.

The women sighed at each other and pointed to the elevator, Larissa simply saying, "Floor four, third on the right."

"Thanks!" Wasabi gasped, running in the direction of the elevator.

They watched him, and both found themselves wondering if there would be another frantic adult running through the doors to interrupt the quiet after Wasabi had disappeared.

* * *

Hiro watched the lights at the top of the elevator panel change smoothly, just as he ascended and drew closer to the answer he was seeking. Merely three minutes after he had stepped into the hospital, he found himself on the fourth floor, stepping out into the long hallway, his heart thumping with each step.

"I hope he's in his room," he muttered under his breath, passing the first two rooms and spotting a woman and child asleep outside his destination. As he approached, he realized why the girl had struck him as familiar.

"Hanna?" he breathed, as the girl slowly blinked awake. Turning, her arms wrapped around the woman's shoulders, his eyes nearly popped out of his head when he saw Natalie asleep.

Hanna looked at him for a few seconds before pointing and saying, "You're Hiro. Slammed into any walls since I saw you last?"

The pieces clicked into place, but he did little to process them, instead focusing on a cheeky reply.

"You wish," he answered, coming up to stand in front of Natalie. Hanna disentangled herself from her older sister and grabbed Hiro's wrist, startling him.

"You're here for Bobby," she stated, and he looked at her like she'd just sprouted another head. She nodded and added, "Robert. That's his legal name."

Hiro nodded back, and explained, "That was the name I found."

Without another word, Hanna led him into her brother's hospital room, slipping through the doorway and shutting it with a practiced carefulness. Hiro stood, awkwardness crawling across his skin, but Hanna walked over and slipped her hand into his, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

"He won't bite," she told him. "Bobby's not that kind of guy. And he's pretty thankful for the effort your big brother made to help him."

Hiro smiled, and thanked her before letting his hand slip from hers as he approached Bobby's bedside.

The young man laid deathly still, monitors and IVs and electrical equipment hooked up to every visible inch of him, and even some of him Hiro couldn't see, one particularly large clump of wires disappearing under the man's hospital gown. His face, ghostly pale, was relaxed in what Hiro knew was sleep, if he could believe the steady _bloop bloop _of the heart monitor.

He didn't speak, but the man stirred and said, "Yes?"

Hiro blinked, then raised an eyebrow as he pointed at himself. Again, the bedridden man said, "Yes...?"

"Oh," Hiro exclaimed, then bowed and said, "Hi. My name is Hiro, and I wanted to ask you a few questions about how you knew my brother."

The man nodded, then said, "I can tell you're Tadashi's little brother. You act just like him."

Hiro couldn't help but mentally disagree; he and Tadashi couldn't be any more opposites if they tried.

"So, what did you come here to ask me?" he continued. "Sorry if I'm being abrupt, but I want to see if I can give you some answers before I croak. I don't have very much time.

"Isn't that right, Hanna?" he asked, looking to his sister who stood stock still just at the foot of the bed.

She nodded, then abruptly left the room, her hair fanning out as she turned.

Hiro watched her as she left, but then focused his attention back on Bobby. "Before my brother... died," he said, in the hopes of keeping things a secret until he could figure out what on earth had really happened, "he was constructing an artificial heart for use in your body, correct?"

"That's right," he replied, "but someone else got it before I could, even though it had been contracted specifically for me."

"Why were the plans changed?"

Bobby fell silent for several moments before admitting, "I don't know. That girl was supposed to get the second one Tadashi would manufacture, because she had longer to live. I have no idea why they skipped me and gave it to her."

Hiro had a hard time believing that; something in the way the man spoke said there was more to the story than he was letting on. Pushing his concerns aside, he asked, "When was Tadashi supposed to make the second heart?"

"Right after mine. But by the time the girl's surgery was deemed successful and the heart ready for additional manufacturing, it was after the fire." Bobby pressed a button on the remote resting beneath his fingertips, and the bed began to move him into a sitting position.

Hiro blinked slowly, suspicion rising from the pit of his stomach. He fingered one of the sheets in his hand, flicking the edge repeatedly as he thought.

_It doesn't fit... The timeline just doesn't fit. Tadashi's blueprint wasn't even completed until days before the showcase fire, which would never be enough time to complete a working prototype. That would take over a week, and Mimi's surgery -if she is the mystery patient from the internet study- was just two weeks after the fire. Tadashi wouldn't have even been alive to make it, which supports the theory someone stole his technology._

_But I know he's alive_, Hiro recalled, _so that invalidates that theory and gives evidence as to why those messages were left for me by the Technomancer, who I now know is my brother_.

_The question remains, Why hasn't Tadashi contacted me, or made another heart?_

He didn't realize he'd spoken that last part aloud, but it dawned on him as soon as Bobby replied, "I've wondered the same thing myself."

* * *

"You did _what?!_" Gogo shrieked into her OCD best friend's ear, making him hold the phone out and away from his body, a disgusted look on his face. He was thankful he was alone in the elevator so he didn't have to face the embarrassment of having a five-foot-something Asian woman yell at him like she was his mother.

"I said, he jumped out of the car while I was parking and told me he'd meet me inside, so I parked and ran after him," Wasabi repeated quickly, thrusting the phone away in case she started screaming again.

As if she had read his mind, he heard a strained, "Put that phone back to your ear _right now_," and he shamefully did what he was told.

"Now," she said, "where are you, and where is Hiro?"

Wasabi watched the numbers on the panel flicker as he arrived at his destination floor, and he answered, "I'm getting off the elevator. Hiro should be just up ahead. I'll find him in a second, I promise," he added, stepping out as the doors flew open with a _ding_.

"Good," the feisty woman said, her tone growing much more calm, "and keep him with you this time."

"Will do," Wasabi replied before hanging up.

He slid his phone into his pocket, casually striding down the hall past the first two doors and on approach to the third as a woman slowly shook herself awake from where she had been sleeping in a chair nearby. As he walked up, a little girl slipped out of the room, and he heard a familiar voice inside.

A grip of pure ice seized his heart, stealing his breath and making his blood liquid nitrogen in his veins as he heard the words, "Why hasn't Tadashi contacted me?"

He heard the voice, knew the words had come from Hiro's mouth, but his brain couldn't register the fact that Hiro had said it with such conviction that he believed it to be true.

The poor kid probably was delusional and in denial about his brother's death, which was to be expected.

But something else caught his attention, as another, faint voice said, "I've wondered the same thing myself."

Wasabi couldn't find the strength to move, so he simply stayed where he was, leaning softly against the wall to hear the conversation going on within. Both Hanna amd Natalie studied him with noted curiosity as he closed his eyes to concentrate.

"...What do you mean? How did you know about Tadashi...?" Hiro.

"He was going to give me a new heart, so we were in pretty close contact. I didn't learn he was alive for sure until after Mimi's surgery, when she brought him in." The man's voice was vaguely familiar.

"You've seen him?! How is he? How did he survive? Why hasn't he contacted me?" More frantic, now.

"Hiro, when I saw him, it wasn't the same Tadashi you know and love. There was the fire damage, for one thing."

"What?" Heartbroken.

"His face, arm, and chest are heavily scarred from the fire. And his eyes... they aren't the same kind eyes I once met. It's as if he's no longer himself, since he didn't recognize me when Mimi brought him here."

Silence.

Wasabi briefly thought about going inside to intervene, but just when he was about to move, he heard Hiro speak.

"That's why he was on the hologram. That's why he called me a madman. He doesn't remember who I am, or he remembers bits and pieces, and his amnesia is distorting his memory."

Wasabi had no idea what he was talking about, and he was worried. If Hiro had been keeping something from the others, it didn't bode well at all. Especially not if he had been keeping a secret the minor detail that, oh, you know,_ Tadashi was alive and had survived the fire_.

The familiar voice then said, "I'm glad I could give you some answers, Hiro. I hope you have enough to do what you came here to do."

The boy's voice was more energetic, more hopeful when he replied, "I do, thanks. And I've got a lot of work to do to make things right for you."

The man didn't get a chance to respond, because the next thing Wasabi knew, Hiro had bolted from the room and skidded on a wet tile, sending him careening into the opposite wall. The little girl and the woman who had gone largely unnoticed by Wasabi had covered their mouths with one hand and were giggling excitedly.

"Now, that's the Hiro Hamada I met earlier," the little girl said, and the older woman and Wasabi both blanched.

"You know each other?!" the two adults chorused, and from his spot on the floor, Hiro stared daggers at Wasabi, while the little girl shuffled over to help him.

"We really should stop meeting like this," she said, helping the older boy to his feet. He gave her a knowing smile, and looked over to Wasabi, who was staring intently at the older woman.

Nervously Hiro said, "Wasabi, meet Hanna and Natalie Carraway. They're Bobby's sisters, and... well... it's complicated."

"Perfect summary," Hanna said, smiling devilishly. "Now, after all this excitement, why don't we all go eat together? We all need to hear the full story, I think."

Wasabi had gone slack-jawed by that point, so Hanna took him by the hand and said, "Come on, sis, let's go get their friends and explain this mess."

She led the solid man who was a good four times her size to the elevator, and waited for her sister and Hiro to follow.

Natalie looked at the young boy whose brother had rocked her world and nearly saved her brother's, and shrugged. "She's got a point..."

Rolling his eyes, Hiro pulled his phone from his pocket and said, "I'll let the others know. Let's meet at the Lucky Cat Café."

"Fine with me," Natalie said, heading over to where her sister and Wasabi stood. "I'll explain this madness after we get settled in, then."

* * *

The rest of the gang was already there by the time Hiro, Wasabi, and the Carraway girls had arrived. They met the girls and Fred in a big booth at the back of the cafe, and Natalie waited until they'd all put their orders in to explain.

And explain she did. Right from the very beginning.


	12. Author's Note

**Hi, everyone! I'm sorry I haven't been able to get another chapter out just yet... I've been working on it, but I have a bit of writer's block. There are some loose ends of the plot I still have to tie up, and the flow isn't where I want it to be just yet. **

**I'll try to get another chapter posted by Tuesday, but it might end up being a filler chapter if I can't get the main story to where I want it. **

**Thank you so much to everyone who's read ****_Just Press Reset_**** so far! It means a lot to me, especially to have so many followers and favorites and reviews. Thank you all for taking the time to read!**

**Noel**


	13. Update

**Hi guys.**

**I know it's been a few months since I last updated (the last one was in February-March, if I recall correctly), and since then I've kind of gotten chewed up and spit out by school. And don't even mention the writer's block and severe plotholes in the story.**

**It's because of these plotholes that I decided to scrap and totally rework ****_Just Press Reset_****. It's not fair to you guys, the readers, to have to suffer through a story that doesn't really make sense, and it's my fault as a writer who didn't start out with any plan in mind that it's gotten to this point.**

**I'll spend the summer reworking the plot and rewriting, keeping the minor stuff and probably most of the first few chapters, but all of the major plot points are getting stripped to the bones and redone, ****_with a plan in mind._**** I'll post a little note at the top of each chapter as I rework it, but for now, I'm just gonna leave what's here. **

**I'm sorry to leave you guys hanging like this, but I realized just how weak my writing felt and how much I've matured since I started this fanfic. I want my writing to reflect that. **

**Thank you for your continued support of ****_Just Press Reset. _****I'll do another update once I have an official relaunch date in mind.**

**Many thanks,**

**Noel Penn**


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